ISS astronaut hospitalized after returning to Earth

SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour spacecraft carrying Crew-8 landed in the Gulf of Mexico on October 25, after which one astronaut had to stay in the hospital for health monitoring.

SpaceX's Crew-8 mission astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, along with Russian space agency Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Grebenkin, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida at 3:29 a.m. local time on October 25 (2:29 p.m. on October 25, Hanoi time) after more than two weeks of waiting for suitable conditions on the International Space Station (ISS), according to Space .

The Dragon Endeavour spacecraft lands on water. (Photo: WTVA).

After the ship landed in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX ships, including the recovery ship "Megan," quickly went to the Dragon Endeavour to lift the spacecraft and crew out of the water.

On the afternoon of October 25, the astronauts were examined at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, a hospital near the landing site on the Gulf of Mexico . One of the astronauts had to stay at the hospital for further observation while the others flew to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA did not provide information about the crew member who remained at the medical facility to protect the privacy of the individual.

Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin launched to the ISS on March 3 and joined Expedition 70, 71 and 72 on board.

Originally scheduled to return to Earth on October 8 after completing a seven-month scientific mission aboard the ISS, Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin are prepared to leave the ISS almost daily while NASA and SpaceX flight controllers continue to monitor weather systems over the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to avoid adverse ocean conditions near the Dragon Endeavour landing site.

During their stay, they conducted hundreds of scientific experiments and twice attempted two spacewalks, but equipment problems doomed their attempts.

Crew-8 also saw visits from eight different vehicles, including Boeing's Starliner on a Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin's stay on the ISS was extended by a month after NASA decided Wilmore and Williams would remain on the ISS and the Starliner would return to Earth without astronauts.

Crew-8 marks the fifth flight of Dragon Endeavour, following the Demo-2, Crew-2, Axiom-1 and Crew-6 missions. During the Crew-8 mission, Dragon Endeavour traveled 160 million kilometers and completed 3,776 orbits of Earth.