Two astronauts switch roles, one is ill, but all is well in space

William Atkins
Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:03

Science - Space

Space shuttle Atlantis successfully docked with the space station as they flew high over Australia at about 11:17 a.m. CST on Saturday, February 9, 2008.                     

After opening the hatch between the shuttle and the station, Dan Tani, flight engineer for the ISS Expedition 16 crew, relinquished his stationrole and became a member of the STS-122 shuttle crew. Taking his place, at about 5:20 p.m. CST, was French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, and former STS-122 crewmember, who will remain onboard the International Space Station into March 2008.

Tani will return to Earth with the STS-122 crew when it departs for Earth later in February.

Astronaut Tani has been living on the ISS for about four months—his 110th day occurred the day that Atlantis docked with the station. His tour of duty was extended due to the technical problems with Atlantis, specifically, when faults in the engine cutoff sensors for the liquid hydrogen tanks inside the external tank caused them to be modified.

Another astronaut, it has been told, has a medical condition that has postponed the first spacewalk to attach the European science laboratory (Columbus) to the International Space Station. The first spacewalk will be delayed by about twenty-four hours. Commander Steve Frick announced earlier that one of the STS-122 astronauts has a medical condition.

During a televised briefing from the NASA Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake City, outside of Houston, Texas, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team, John Shannon, announced the presence of the problem, and the delay with the first spacewalk.

Shannon did say that the STS-122 crew requested two medical conferences that were conducted in private with the mission’s slight surgeons. According to the Associated Press, Shannon was asked by a reporter if the condition was contagious. He responded, "You guys can fish all day, but I won't bite." [Associated Press]

NASA has declined to specific the nature of the problem, due to privacy of the astronaut. Because of the illness, German astronaut Hans Schlegel has been replaced in the first spacewalk (extravehicular activity), EVA #1, with U.S. astronaut Stanley Love. The first spacewalk has been postponed from Sunday to Monday, due to the illness.

The non-threatening illness could be motion sickness, a common illness when first going into space. However, it seems at this time that the medical condition is something that has not happened before to an astronaut while in space. Schlegel has been in space before, and appeared earlier to be ok as he floated about the compartment inside the space station.

Rex J. Walheim and Stanley G. Love will perform the first spacewalk on Monday, February 11. Love trained for this spacewalk as Schegel’s backup just in case something unexpected would happen—which it did. Their job while outside of the ISS is to attach the Columbus laboratory to the station. As originally planned, Love will also take part in the third spacewalk.

The original eleven-day mission for STS-122 has been extended for at least one day because of the delay in starting the first EVA. Landing of Atlantis and is crew is scheduled now for 9:14 a.m. CST on February 19, 2008, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Live television of the spacewalks will be shown on NASA TV at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

Additional information about the STS-122 crew is found at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts122/

Further data on the ISS Expedition 16 crew is located at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition16/index.html