Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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An Astronaut in Trouble?
April 26, 2007 7:45 PM
Suni Williams has been in space for 19 weeks and five days, and NASA sent out a perplexing press release that had us going for a little while:
HOUSTON - After several months working aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Suni Williams will come back to Earth aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch June 8. That shuttle mission, STS-117, will carry her successor, astronaut Clay Anderson, to the station to begin his duty as an Expedition 15 flight engineer.
The exchange of Anderson and Williams was originally planned for the STS-118 mission, now targeted for launch in August. However, that flight, first set to fly in June, had to be postponed after an unexpected hail storm damaged Atlantis' external fuel tank and delayed STS-117.
Hmmm. Was there more to it? Williams now holds the record for spacewalks by a woman astronaut, and is on her way to the record for longest flight by a woman astronaut. Why not let her stay? Was there a medical issue?
Gina Sunseri had a source in Houston who said they were a bit concerned about leaving her up too long; over time, astronauts lose bone density and muscle mass, and are exposed to cosmic radiation.
I had a source who said the decision had nothing to do with Williams' health; she was coming home at about the same time she would have anyway, if not for the ongoing woes of the shuttle fleet.
So we went into crash mode (our jargon, by the way, for starting to put together a story on tight deadline, not NASA jargon for something involving a spacecraft).
I wrote, producer Justine Schiro started gathering video, and we did an interview with Peter Cavanaugh of the Center for Space Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic: "Astronauts lose approximately ten times more bone than post-menopausal women do," he said.
Meanwhile, Gina reached Dr. Steve Hart, Williams' flight surgeon. Sure, he wanted Williams home on schedule, he said--but they don't have much data on how she's doing.
It turns out astronauts wear radiation dosimeters, but they're not read until they come home. Likewise, Williams' bone density will not be measured in flight. If Williams did have a problem, by the way, she would be protected by medical privacy laws.
The real issue was the reliability of the shuttles. If Suni Williams had flown from December to August--nine months--she would have been in uncharted territory for NASA. And there's no saying the August flight would have come off on time.
But they talk optimistically of going to Mars. They have some work to do before then.
April 26, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
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I don't understand the problem with NASA not being forthright about issues like this. Have they caught the Bush syndrome? No, that's silly. I can remember the Challenger disaster and the inquiry that followed. Dr. Richard Feynman busted their little cover-up with a glass of ice water, a C-clamp and a piece of rubber. This kind of political crap has got to stop. Aren't there any honest people in this government? Can't anybody investigate anything without bringing in the spin doctors? I really believe that if the public is paying for all of this, they deserve to have the truth.
Posted by: Andy | Apr 26, 2007 8:25:55 PM
The ABC comments on this blog are of significant interest and clarify what Charles Gibson said last night. Having checked the NASA web site and NASA TV and read ABC's comments I think ABC should clarify their report tonight. Suni Williams is returning essentially on time through a responsible adaptation of the schedule in view of a contingency. This is important because NASA has worked very hard and exceptionally well to responsibly manage and plan manned space flight since the Columbia disaster. The astronauts--US, Russian, ESA, and others--dedicate their lives to responsible exploration. Both NASA and each individual deserve such recognition and not a statement implies a problem.
Posted by: Richard Bauer | Apr 27, 2007 12:40:10 PM
I agree with Andy in his comments, but I guess the outstanding questions I have involve the medical conditions of the astronauts: why can't the radiation dosimeters be read in space? We have in common use such dosimeters that can take immediate readings, as one tours a nuclear facility, for example. Are there no dosimeters which can take cumulative readings? Why can't bone and muscle density loss be measured in space--lack of room for equipment, lack of expertise, or what?
Posted by: chuck | Apr 30, 2007 9:12:10 AM
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