The three NASA astronauts who’d spent seven months living and working on the International Space Station would not disclose which of them spent the night in the hospital once back on U.S. soil during their first press conference since returning to Earth two weeks ago.
All three astronauts — Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps — were rushed to a Florida hospital after splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 25.
But which one of them experienced a medical episode, requiring an overnight stay at the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, will remain a mystery — for now.
Barrett cited medical privacy laws when asked by reporters who got sick and from what, but said the three were in good health.
The astronauts were due to return earlier in the month, but had their stay in space prolonged thanks to a malfunctioning Boeing Starliner capsule and major weather events like Hurricane Milton.
“Space flight is still something we don’t fully understand,” Barrett said. “We’re finding things that we don’t expect sometimes — this was one of those times. We’re still piecing things together. I’m a medical doctor, space medicine is my passion, and how we adapt, how we experience human space flight, is something that we all take very seriously.
“In the fullness of time, we will allow this to come out,” Barrett added.
Two NASA astronauts remain stuck in orbit on the ISS.
Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams are set to return from the ISS in February, hitching a ride on a SpaceX capsule. Photos that showed Williams’ dramatic weight loss while on board the station raised concerns about her health earlier this week.
They were only supposed to be in space for 8 days, but have already been up there 156 days.
Barrett, Dominick and Epps said they are still readjusting to gravity.
“I’m a first-time flyer and fascinated by the readaptation,” said Dominick, the crew’s mission commander. “The big things you expect — being disoriented, being dizzy. But the little things, like just sitting in a hard chair.
“My backside has not really sat in a hard thing for [235] days,” he continued. “That wasn’t in a book I read.”
With Post wires
