CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida. – Three NASA astronauts whose extended mission to the space station ended with a trip to the hospital last month, declined to say Friday which of them was sick.

Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly discussed their spaceflight for the first time since returning from the International Space Station on October 25. eight months in orbitlonger than expected because of all the problems with Boeing Starliner crew capsule and severe weather conditions, including Hurricane Milton.

Shortly after their SpaceX capsule crashed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, the three men were taken to a hospital in nearby Pensacola, along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who had launched with them in March.

One of the Americans ended up spending the night there for an undisclosed “medical issue.” NASA declined to say who was hospitalized or why, citing medical confidentiality.

When asked at Friday’s press conference which of the two was ill, the astronauts declined to comment. Barratt, a doctor specializing in space medicine, refused to even describe the unidentified astronaut’s symptoms.

“Spaceflight is still something we don’t fully understand. Sometimes we discover things we didn’t expect. It was one of those moments and we’re still piecing things together,” said Barratt, the only member of the crew to have flown in space before.

Epps said everyone is different in how they react to space and gravity.

“That’s the part you can’t predict,” she said, adding, “Every day is better than the day before.”

Dominick said little things, like sitting comfortably in a hard chair, took several days to get used to once he returned. He said he didn’t use the treadmill at all during his time in space, as part of an experiment to see what equipment could be scaled back on a long trip to Mars. The first time he walked was coming out of the capsule.

The two astronauts who served as test pilots for Boeing’s Starliner — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will stay at the space station until February and return with SpaceX. Starliner returned empty in September.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.