CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronauts evacuated last week from the International Space Station say a portable ultrasound machine came in “super handy” during the medical crisis.

During their first public appearance since returning to Earth, the four astronauts refused Wednesday to say which one of them needed medical attention and for what reason. It was NASA’s first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight.

NASA’s Mike Fincke said the crew used the onboard ultrasound machine once the medical problem arose Jan. 7, the day before a planned spacewalk that was abruptly canceled. The astronauts had already used the device a lot for routine checks of their body changes while living in weightlessness, “so when we had this emergency, the ultrasound machine came in super handy.”

It was so useful that Fincke said there should be one on all future spaceflights. “It really helped,” he said.

“Of course, we didn’t have other big machines that we have here on planet Earth,” he added. “We do try to make sure that everybody before we fly are really, really not prone to surprises. But sometimes things happen and surprises happen, and the team was ready … preparation was super important.”