NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts taken to medical facility after successful splash down on Earth — two months behind schedule

The astronauts’ return was delayed by Hurricane Milton and issues with the Boeing Starliner capsule

Four astronauts returned to Earth early Friday morning, successfully splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

The Crew-8 mission — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — had launched to the International Space Station in March, spending a total of 236 days in space.

But, hours after the group safely returned and had standard post-flight medical evaluations, NASA said all four were flown to a local medical facility for an additional assessment.

Support teams work around the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft shortly after it landed in the waters near Pensacola, Florida, on Friday morning. The capsule’s crew safely splashed down after spending more than 235 days in space. ((NASA/Joel Kowsky via AP))

“Out of an abundance of caution, all crew members were flown to the facility together. NASA will provide additional information as it becomes available,” said Cheryl Warner, the space agency’s news chief.

The SpaceX capsule’s parachutes deployed and the spacecraft splashed down near Pensacola at 3:29 a.m. ET. Teams on SpaceX’s recovery ship secured the spacecraft and hoisted it onto a recovery ship’s main deck.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, left, NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, second from left, Matthew Dominick, second from right, and Jeanette Epps, right, sit inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft ((NASA/Joel Kowsky via AP))

The plan was for the astronauts to undergo medical checks before a short helicopter trip and longer plane ride to the Texas-based Johnson Space Center.

At the end of their seven-and-a-half-month mission, NASA said that Crew-8 had orbited the Earth 3,776 times, traveling more than 100 million statute miles.

Seven Expedition 72 crew members — a normal crew size — remain on the orbiting laboratory after Endeavour’s Wednesday departure. Dragon undocked from the space station at 5:05 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Crew-8 astronauts’ return came after an extended stay following problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule and Hurricane Milton. They should have been back two months ago.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on Friday morning. Grebenkin was one of four in the capsule, including three NASA astronauts ((NASA/Joel Kowsky via AP))

Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, previously said that the support teams back on Earth had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us ... and helped us to roll with all those punches.”

Starliner test pilots and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, will remain on the space station until February. They are assigned to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

With reporting from The Associated Press