A NASA astronaut gave a cryptic explanation as to why their four-person crew was mysteriously hospitalized after returning to Earth from space last month.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps were taken to a medical facility in Florida after the Oct. 25 crash, with one of the crew staying overnight for “observation.”
Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin returned with the NASA crew and was also taken to the hospital in nearby Pensacola, but did not speak during a live briefing Friday.
NASA has remained tight-lipped about the reason for the hospital visit and the crew continued to dodge questions during Friday’s briefing.
“Space flight is still something we don’t fully understand,” Barratt said.
‘We sometimes encounter things we don’t expect. This was one of those moments and we’re still working on it.”
The trained doctor referred to the emergency room visit only as a “medical event” and said NASA will reveal all the details “in short order.”
Although NASA has declined to provide other information, an insider told DailyMail.com that “blood pressure problems” could have landed them in the hospital in Florida.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps were hospitalized along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin as they returned to Earth from the ISS
The NASA astronauts continued to elaborate on the “medical event,” but shy away from details about which of them spent the night.
“Everyone is different,” Epps said, “and that’s the part you can’t predict.”
However, Dominick noted, “The big things you expect, being disoriented, being dizzy.
“But the little things, like just sitting in a hard chair, my butt hasn’t really been in a hard chair in 235 days… It’s kind of uncomfortable, right? I didn’t expect that.’
Astronauts returning to Earth experience a dramatic drop in blood pressure, which can lead to orthostatic hypotension, a form of low blood pressure that occurs when a person stands up or lies down.
Orthostatic hypotension occurs in astronauts because gravity pulls the blood downward when their body is in low gravity, causing a shock-like impact to their system.
Symptoms of orthostatic hypotension include lightheadedness or lightheadedness and occur in almost all astronauts after long-duration missions.
While the source told DailyMail.com that this could be the cause of the hospital admissions, they said: “NASA can play the ‘medical privacy issue’ all day long.”
The Crew-8 astronauts splashed down on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor on October 25 after a 235-day mission. NASA
The crew was stranded on the ISS for eight months while their stay was scheduled to last until early August, but Boeing’s crew capsule failure and Hurricane Milton made summer return impossible – for a total of 235 days.
Crew-8 successfully crashed at 3:30 a.m. ET after launching to the orbiting laboratory on March 3.
At an Oct. 31 Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel meeting, former astronaut and committee member Kent Rominger listed a series of “recent issues” with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
He said the accidents serve as a reminder to remain vigilant as the company increases the pace of its missions.
“Both NASA and SpaceX must continue to focus on safe Crew Dragon operations and not take ‘normal’ operations for granted,” Rominger said.
The US space agency had only noted that one crew member had been taken to hospital, but it later emerged that all four had made the journey.
NASA’s decision not to reveal who that astronaut was or reveal details about his or her condition was made “to protect the crew member’s medical privacy.”
But insiders have speculated that low blood pressure was the cause.
“Upon return to Earth, gravity ‘pulls’ the blood and fluids back into the abdomen and legs,” NASA said.
‘The loss of blood volume, combined with atrophy of the heart and blood vessels that can occur in space, reduces the ability to regulate a drop in blood pressure that occurs when we stand on Earth.’