THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230319
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. LENGTH: 90 lines
Astronaut John Blaha returned to Earth Wednesday after a punishing four months aboard the Russian space station Mir, and instead of playing the hero, allowed himself to be carried off shuttle Atlantis on a stretcher.
It was the first time an astronaut agreed to be carried off after a long space flight. The decision delighted NASA doctors, who wanted to gauge immediately the effects of long-term weightlessness on the body, including dizziness and weakened bones and muscles.
Paramedics gently carried the weak Blaha onto an airport-style people-mover minutes after Atlantis landed with its crew of six. He was greeted by hugs and kisses from his wife of 30 years, Brenda, and their 23-year-old daughter, Carolyn.
The 54-year-old former combat and test pilot, a 1960 graduate of Granby High School in Norfolk, said he was ``absolutely stunned'' at how heavy he felt when Atlantis landed and how wobbly he still felt several hours later.
``I mean, it's like I can't believe it. I feel very wobbly. I don't feel like I'm capable of walking very good,'' the five-time space flier said. ``I've improved a little bit. But right after . . . the orbiter stopped, I couldn't even raise my leg an inch. It wouldn't even move. It felt very heavy.''
He didn't mind shedding his Right Stuff image for the sake of science.
``That was totally John's decision'' to be carried out, astronaut John Grunsfeld said. ``He was very much into understanding long-term effects of space flight and wanted the doctors to get the best possible data they could.''
Flight surgeons and scientists who study the range of changes that occur to space marathoners have urged the fliers to recline after their return to Earth, until a range of medical tests can be completed. The cardiovascular, neuro-vestibular, muscle, skeletal, endocrine and immune systems of astronauts are all weakened or altered by weightlessness.
Space agency researchers, however, say the changes are reversed as the body slowly readapts to gravity.
Blaha's two predecessors on Mir - including biochemist Shannon Lucid, who was up a record six months, shunned stretchers and walked off the shuttle.
To ease the crush of gravity, Blaha returned lying down in a shuttle seat. It will be weeks and probably months before his body is back to normal.
During Atlantis' 10-day mission, the shuttle also dropped off Blaha's replacement aboard Mir, Dr. Jerry Linenger, for a four-month stay in orbit.
Blaha was still in his orange flight suit in the people-mover undergoing medical tests when he was greeted by his wife and daughter in a quick reunion arranged by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin.
``Am I ever glad to see you!'' Blaha said.
``I went and pecked him on the cheek and he said, `I want a REAL kiss and a REAL hug,' '' Brenda Blaha said, laughing. ``So we did. . . . It was great.''
Brenda Blaha said her husband seemed a little weary, and his hair was the longest she had ever seen, but he was in great spirits.
``He's been talking up a storm,'' his daughter said.
Blaha admitted getting depressed early in his 128-day mission - he missed his wife more than he ever imagined - but eventually adjusted well to isolated station life. He circled Earth more than 2,000 times and traveled 49 million miles since rocketing into orbit aboard Atlantis in September.
``The first month I was on orbit, I had to make a transition,'' Blaha explained, relaxing in shorts and a tank top. ``I kept longing for things that I loved here, and I finally decided I had to forget them. When I did that, then I loved being on the station. I had to psychologically say, `Maybe I'm never going to see them,' and I had to work at just forgetting them. And I had to work at forgetting Brenda.''
Blaha said he wants a vacation - ``doesn't matter where'' - and plans to stick to short space missions from now on.
``I was surprised at how much I would miss this person standing here,'' he said, holding his wife's hand. ``I don't want to do that again.''
Linenger, a 42-year-old physician with a toddler son and a pregnant wife, will live on Mir until Atlantis returns for him in late May and leaves yet another U.S. astronaut. Kathryn Linenger is due to give birth in late June.
The shuttle-Mir dockings are considered practice for the future international space station. Construction begins in November.
Next up for NASA is Discovery's launch Feb. 11 on the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.'' MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and
The Houston Chronicle. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photos
Atlantis, above, glides over Florida's Banana River Wednesday
morning, returning astronaut John Blaha, a graduate of Granby High
School, to Earth. Blaha, right, holds the hand of his wife, Brenda,
at the Kennedy Space Center later Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: ASTRONAUTS SPACE SHUTTLES ATLANTIS
NORFOLK