three nasa astronauts which has just ended The 235-day-long mission to the International Space Station discussed its flight with reporters Friday, but declined to comment. on a medical issue Somehow this resulted in one astronaut having to spend the night in the hospital after landing.
The unidentified astronauts flew back to Houston's Johnson Space Center with their crewmates the day after splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 25. But NASA, citing medical privacy issues, provided no details other than to say that the astronauts “are in good health and will resume normal repairs after the flight with other crew members.”
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“I know there might be some interest in our post-flight medical program, where we went to a hospital,” Crew 8 pilot Mike Barrett, a physician-astronaut, told reporters Friday. “You know, space flight is still something we don't fully understand. We're sometimes finding things we don't expect, and this was one of those times.
“We're still piecing things together on this. And so to maintain medical confidentiality and move our processes forward in an orderly manner, that's all we're going to say about that incident at this time.”
Barrett, Crew 8 commander Matt Dominick, astronaut Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin Launched from Kennedy Space Center on March 3 and docked at the space station two days later. He returned to Earth last month after a long stay in space.
Barrett, Dominic and Epps all appeared healthy and in good spirits on Friday as they continue their readjustment to gravity. Grebenkin flew back to Moscow shortly after the splashdown, but in a social media post just after the crew returned to Earth, he was smiling and reported to be in good condition.
While the possibly minor medical issue remains a mystery, the crew shared highlights of their stay in space, including details about a water leak during preparations for the June spacewalk that caused freezing in the space station's airlock. The storm came.
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After spacesuit “discomfort” problems forced Dominic and astronaut Tracy Dyson to cancel a planned spacewalk on June 13, Dyson and Barrett prepared for another excursion on June 24.
While swimming in the airlock with the external hatch open to space, an umbilical failed to “seat” properly and water began spewing into the chamber.
“Oh my God,” Dyson said when he saw the water coming out. “There's a lot of water flowing. There's literally water everywhere. …I've got ice on my helmet.”
“This was no ordinary leak,” Barratt said Friday. “Anyone who was watching NASA TV at that time could see that there was basically a blizzard, a blizzard coming out of the air lock, because we already had the hatch open. We had snow in the air lock. Tracey was seeing a lot of them on her helmet, on her gloves, and more.
“So it was…to be real honest, dramatic is the right word. I think really, Tracy's actions were nothing short of heroic in that she covered her hands with ice and sort of put that cord back on like Vision. It was damaged and the air lock was closed.”
Barrett said he grabbed her space-suited legs so Dyson could “shut that thing off, and he did. So yes, there was a little bit of drama. Everything went well. And then, the normal processes and procedures. Saved our bacon.”
NASA plans to resume spacewalks in January, and Barrett said the suits will be in good condition.
“I think we're leaving them a brand new umbilical cord, a much cleaner interface on the side where we had problems and the suits are charged and really ready to go,” he said. “So I think we're ready for the next EVA mission. I wish we were doing that.”
He said, “None of our spacesuits are spring chickens. And so we would expect to see some hardware problems with repeated use. So again, it's one of those things that we're always, every second, trying to prevent.” “…or work on contingency procedures.”
As for the suit “discomfort” issue that Dominic had reported before the earlier spacewalk attempt, no details were provided.
“We're still reviewing it and trying to figure out all the details,” Dominic said.