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Iss Crew Adjusting to Conditions Back on Earth

Posted on: Sunday, 9 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

MOSCOW. May 9 (Interfax) - The members of Expedition 8, who recently returned from the International Space Station, are undergoing rehabilitation at Star City outside Moscow.

Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, NASA astronaut Michael Foale and visiting astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands returned to Earth from the ISS on April 30. Kaleri and Foal had spent six months at the ISS. Kuipers' rehabilitation period will last for about two weeks, but Kaleri and Foale will continue rehabilitation for about four weeks.

"Extensive medical examination programs and experiments precede and follow space flights. Back on Earth, crews are thoroughly examined and undergo post-flight rehabilitation," Georgy Samarin, chief of medical and biological programs at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, told Interfax.

He said the effects of zero gravity are particularly strong during the first weeks after the return to Earth, but in a couple of months astronauts readjust to gravity and are ready for their next flights.

"During the first five-six days back on Earth, astronauts experience the same feelings as the ones they first felt when they went into space. Adjusting to weightlessness is a very painful process. The person feels nauseous, dizzy and has illusions, for example, that he is still constantly upside down. But in about ten days, all of these unpleasant feelings disappear as the human body is a self-regulating system," Samarin said.

After the flight, astronauts have to restore their muscles and vestibular functions. In space, due to the redistribution of liquids, the face may swell, but all of these unpleasant effects pass quickly, said Samarin.

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