NASA - Astronaut collapses during ceremony

[Guest guest]

HOUSTON, Texas

(AP) -- An astronaut from the space shuttle Atlantis collapsed twice Friday during a welcome home ceremony, a wobbly

return that officials attributed to the adjustment from 12 days at zero

gravity.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper left the hangar at Ellington Field through

a side door but was not taken to a hospital. Officials said she was doing fine.

Piper, fifth of the six astronauts to speak, appeared to

be confused before her legs buckled during her address.

NASA officials and crew members braced her and lowered her

to the ground. She stood up again, and the crowd applauded.

" Boy, if that's not a little embarrassing, " she

said.

After speaking for another half-minute or so, she again

appeared confused and gripped the podium. Crew members stepped to her side and

lowered her to the floor.

Two NASA officials helped her leave through a side door.

The Atlantis crew returned Thursday after performing the first

construction work on the international space station since the Columbia

disaster 3 1/2 years ago.

They performed three grueling spacewalks to hook up a 17

1/2-ton addition, which included a giant set of electricity-producing solar

panels.

Piper, a 43-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, is a

commander in the Navy and was a mission specialist and cosmic electrician

aboard the shuttle.

She carried out two of the spacewalks, joining an elite

club of only six other U.S. women and a single Russian woman who have made spacewalks.

'Nice to be

back'

Thursday's landing ended a 12-day mission whose smooth

success was briefly upstaged by the high drama caused by mysterious floating

debris.

" Nice to be back. It was a great team effort, " said commander

Brent Jett immediately after touchdown at Kennedy Space Center at

6:21 a.m. EDT.

More than 1 1/2 hours after landing, the astronauts, all wearing broad

grins, left the shuttle to greet NASA administrator Michael

Griffin and other agency officials. Then they walked under Atlantis to inspect

the shuttle's heat shield.

" It's really a beautiful day in Florida, a great way

to end a mission, " said Jett. " It was a pretty tough few days for us,

a lot of hard work, a great team effort to get the station assembly restarted

on a good note. "

The landing 48 minutes before sunrise was a day later than planned

because NASA ordered up extra inspections of the spacecraft's

delicate skin to make sure it was safe to come home. The fear was that a mysterious piece of debris spotted

floating nearby on Tuesday might have hit the spacecraft.

Astronauts later saw other debris.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/22/shuttle.astronaut.ap/index.html

 

NASA dasha: Ju/Ve/Mo/Ve/Mo

Natal retrograde Saturn afflicts

combust Venus, and transit Sun afflicts combust Moon.

Feminine energy has been under great

pressure due to the fear caused by the several mysterious floating debris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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