Mystery as four NASA astronauts hospitalised after return from International Space station
The Crew-8 astronauts splashed down off the coast of Florida after more than 200 days on the International Space Station (ISS) but yesterday it emerged they had all been taken to hospital
Mystery surrounds the sudden unexplained hospitalisation of four NASA astronauts after they came back to earth aboard a SpaceX craft.
The Crew-8 astronauts splashed down in their Dragon capsule off the coast of Florida after more than 200 days on the International Space Station (ISS). A NASA statement said one astronaut received medical care following their return to earth in the early morning hours of October 25, but yesterday it emerged that all the crewmembers had been taken to hospital.
One crewmember was kept in hospital overnight, but the space agency has since said they were in a “stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure.” No details have been released about the rest of the crew, why they were all hospitalised or whether the medical issues were connected with their time in space.
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In the wake of the incident, SpaceX has been told by a NASA safety panel to focus on crew safety in the run-up to future crewed missions. Kent Rominger, a member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel and a former astronaut himself, pointed to a series of “recent issues” with the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule, both made by SpaceX.
At a meeting of the panel on October 31 Mr Rominger said SpaceX needed to remain vigilant as they increase the pace of their missions in the light of recent mishaps. “Both NASA and SpaceX need to maintain focus on safe Crew Dragon operations and not take any 'normal' operations for granted,” he said.
The mission, which was launched on March 3, was due to return to earth in August but the 180-day mission was extended by 55 days due to a series of delays, seeing the Crew-8 mission return on October 25, 235 days after launch. Astronauts typically spend six months or around 182 days on board the international space station.
Conditions such as muscle loss, cardiovascular issues and reduced bone density are associated with long time periods spend aboard the ISS, however NASA has not released any information about why the Crew-8 astronauts were hospitalised.
Another possibility is that there was some mishap during the Dragon capsule’s return to Earth. SpaceNews reported that one of the parachutes designed to slow the craft‘s re-entry was observed to be “lagging” according to Mr Rominger’s comments at the panel. Other recent SpaceX problems include a failure to launch in July, the loss of a booster during an attempted drone ship landing and a mishap with an upper-stage engine during a deorbit burn in September.
"When you look at these recent incidents over the last handful of weeks, it does lead one to say that it's apparent that operating safely requires significant attention to detail as hardware ages and the pace of operations increases," Rominger said. NASA and SpaceX will have to “guard against letting the high pace of operations cloud their judgement,” he added.
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