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Astronauts Become Guinea Pigs in Shuttle Medical Experiments

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<i> From Associated Press</i>

The doctors aboard the space shuttle Columbia served as patients Friday, slipping on bulky goggles for a study of motion sickness and strapping their feet into a muscle-measuring machine.

It was the first full day in orbit for the seven shuttle astronauts, who set out Thursday on a 16- or 17-day flight to test the effects of weightlessness on the body.

Two-thirds of all astronauts suffer from space motion sickness, whose symptoms include nausea and vertigo. In addition, muscles and bones weaken in orbit because of the absence of gravity. NASA is looking for ways to prevent this debilitating condition as missions get increasingly longer.

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J. Patton Downey, a NASA scientist on the ground, said he did not know whether any of Columbia’s four test subjects--the two physicians plus a veterinarian and a physicist--were suffering from motion sickness. That’s a confidential matter between the astronauts and flight surgeons, he said.

To help understand motion sickness, the four crew members put on goggles that displayed wavy lines and curves. The equipment measured their eye movement and their ability to track these figures.

And to test their muscles, they strapped one foot at a time into a contraption similar to a weight machine at a health club. The machine provided resistance, forcing the astronauts to flex their ankles harder and harder.

If the crew can conserve enough power, the flight will be extended to 17 days, which would be the longest flight in the history of the shuttle program.

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