The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft carrying the Crew-8 astronauts landed in the Gulf of Mexico on October 25, with one astronaut needing to remain in the hospital for health monitoring.
The astronauts on the Crew-8 mission included Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Russian space agency Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Grebenkin. They touched down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 AM local time (2:29 PM Hanoi time) on October 25 after more than two weeks of waiting for suitable conditions at the International Space Station (ISS), according to Space.
Dragon Endeavour landing on the water. (Photo: WTVA).
After the spacecraft landed in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX recovery ships, including the recovery vessel “Megan,” quickly arrived at the Dragon Endeavour to retrieve the capsule and crew from the water.
On the afternoon of October 25, the astronauts underwent health checks at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, a hospital near the landing site in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the astronauts had to stay in the hospital for further monitoring, while the others flew back to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA did not provide information regarding the crew member who remained at the medical facility to protect the individual’s privacy.
Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin launched to the ISS on March 3 and participated in expeditions 70, 71, and 72 on the station.
Initially scheduled to return to Earth on October 8 after completing a seven-month scientific mission on the ISS, Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin were ready to depart the ISS almost daily while NASA and SpaceX flight controllers continually monitored the weather conditions over the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to avoid adverse conditions near the Dragon Endeavour’s landing site.
During their stay, they conducted hundreds of scientific experiments and attempted two spacewalks, but faced equipment issues that rendered their efforts unsuccessful.
The Crew-8 mission also witnessed the visit of eight different vehicles, including Boeing’s Starliner during the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The duration of Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin’s stay at the ISS was extended by one month after NASA decided that Wilmore and Williams would remain on the ISS while the Starliner returned to Earth without carrying any astronauts.
Crew-8 marked the fifth flight of the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft following the Demo-2, Crew-2, Axiom-1, and Crew-6 missions. With the Crew-8 mission, the Dragon Endeavour traveled 160 million kilometers and completed 3,776 orbits around Earth.
