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| Science & Technology |
| 'NASA astronaut's cryptic explanation about why crew of four was hospitalized after space mission |
| 2024-11-13 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A NASA astronaut gave a cryptic explanation about why their four-person crew was mysteriously hospitalized after returning to Earth from space last month. Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps were taken to a medical facility in Florida after splashing down on October 25, with one of the crew staying overnight for 'observation.' Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin, returned with the NASA crew and was also taken to the hospital in nearby Pensacola, but did not speak at a live briefing Friday. NASA has been tight-lipped about the reason for the hospital visit and the crew continued to dodge questions at the briefing Friday. 'Spaceflight is still something we don't fully understand,' Barratt said. 'We're finding things that we don't expect sometimes. This was one of those times and we're still piecing things together on this.' The trained medical doctor only referred to the emergency room visit as a 'medical event,' saying that NASA will reveal all details 'in the fullness of time.' While NASA has refused to provide any other information, an insider told DailyMail.com that 'blood pressure issues' could have landed them in the Florida hospital. The NASA astronauts continued to touch on the 'medical event,' but shying away from details about which one of them stayed overnight. 'Everyone's different,' Epps said, 'and that's the part you can't predict.' Dominick, however, noted: '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... It's rather uncomfortable, right? I did not expect that.' Astronauts returning to Earth experience a dramatic drop in blood pressure, which can lead to orthostatic hypotension, a form of low blood pressure that happens when a person stands up or lies down. Orthostatic hypotension happens in astronauts because gravity pulls blood downward when their bodies have been in low gravity, thus causing a shock-like impact on their system. Symptoms of orthostatic hypotension include lightheadedness or dizziness and occurs in nearly all astronauts after long-term missions. While the source told DailyMail.com that this could have been the cause of the hospitalizations, they said: 'NASA can play the 'medical privacy issue' all day long.' |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #7 Good work Daily Mail; NASA, not Nasa. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2024-11-13 20:54 |
| #6 Steve S around here we call them bloomer crickets |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2024-11-13 16:06 |
| #5 I'm tending toward a more prosaic ailment like...crabs? Regular crabs are hard to get rid of. Space crabs would be almost unstoppable due to their exposure to radiation. While my personal preference is to watch The Andromeda Strain play out in real time, maybe just some fungal infection like athelete's foot. NASA might find it embarrassing if all its astronauts came down with Space Crotch. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2024-11-13 13:05 |
| #4 Surface of the sun real estate futures appear to be lagging somewhat. Some things, they're simply not meant to be. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2024-11-13 09:56 |
| #3 How about a STD? The ultimate Mile High Club. Space Nookie; its not for everyone. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2024-11-13 09:48 |
| #2 None of the explanations justify keeping the cause secret "until the fullness of time." I'm tending toward a more prosaic ailment like...crabs? |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2024-11-13 09:10 |
| #1 When your body is in microgravity for an extended time, the fluids in your body redistribute themselves. The human body is a bag full of fluid. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2024-11-13 08:56 |