NASA astronaut mysteriously rushed to hospital after touching down from 235 days in space

An astronaut has been rushed to hospital after touching down from a 235-day space trip with a mystery ailment.

has refused to disclose why officials whisked off the unnamed spaceman for medical treatment, saying in an official statement that several members of the extended mission were taken to hospital. The agency is also yet to explain whether any of the other astronauts suffered from the same illness.

The crew was sent to the Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola hospital out of precaution, a spokesperson said, following a troubled flight home from the aboard a Dragon spacecraft. NASA has said the one astronaut that remains behind is "under observation" but in a "stable condition".

A spokesperson for the agency said: "The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure." US astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps touched down off Florida's Gulf Coast at 3.29am local time (8.29am BST) alongside Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin on Friday.

Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us ... and helped us to roll with all those punches.” Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. They will remain there until February.

The group was launched by SpaceX in March and should have returned to Earth more than two months ago, but their homecoming was postponed following issues with the Starliner astronaut capsule. The capsule from Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had to return empty in September due to safety concerns before returning and eventually undocking from the ISS with the crew on Wednesday.

NASA said one of its astronauts had a "medical issue" and that they were flown to Ascension Sacred Heart soon after the capsule splashed down earlier today. The agency typically does not disclose details of its astronauts' medical issues, and has declined in this case to explain what led to the caution in this latest case.

ROSCOSMOS, NASA's Russian counterpart, is also yet to respond to questions surrounding the condition of its cosmonaut.