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Russian Doctors Reveal Cosmonaut's Medical Condition
By Steve Gutterman
Associated Press Writer
posted: 01:30 pm ET
08 January 2003
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MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian authorities said Wednesday that a cosmonaut barred by NASA from making a spacewalk for medical reasons was healthy despite American concerns about cardiovascular "peculiarities.'' Nikolai Budarin, 49, a veteran of eight spacewalks totaling 44 hours during two stints on Russia's former Mir space station, was supposed to join U.S. astronaut Kenneth Bowersox in a six-hour spacewalk outside the international space station Jan. 15. "He has no illness. Budarin is healthy,'' said Valery Bogomolov, deputy director of the Institute for Medical and Biological Problems, which runs the medical side of the Russian space program. His comments were broadcast on Russia's TVS television. "The peculiarities of his cardiovascular system are known to us, he had them on previous flights as well,'' Bogomolov said. But he said the responsibility for spacewalks in American space suits lies with NASA. A spokesman for Russia's space agency, Sergei Gorbunov, said that Budarin failed to meet American standards in tests on a stationary bicycle. "But in any case, this is not considered a health problem,'' he told NTV television. Gorbunov said Russian space officials did not dispute the U.S. decision.However, Igor Goncharov, a medical official with the program, said Budarin was fit for a spacewalk, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "Budarin has no other health problems, he is working at full strength,'' ITAR-Tass quoted Goncharov as saying. He said Budarin had similar test results during past missions in which he walked in space. The excursion originally was scheduled for last month, but U.S. flight surgeons opposed Budarin's involvement because of undisclosed medical concerns, and the spacewalk was delayed until next week. NASA said Tuesday that rookie astronaut Donald Pettit will substitute for Budarin, who is scheduled to remain aboard the station with Pettit and Bowersox until March. They are the sixth crew to inhabit the orbiting complex. Next week's spacewalk will be staged from the U.S. Quest airlock and use American spacesuits, which is why Budarin had to pass NASA medical standards for spacewalks. Budarin most recently walked in space in the spring of 1998, when he and another cosmonaut made three spacewalks in just one month to replace a thruster.
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