PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ): Arnauld E. Nicogossian, Charles K. LaPinta, Eduard 



C. Burchard, G. Wyckliffe Hoffler, and Peter J. 

 Bartelloni 



EXPERIMENT TITLE/NUMBER : Crew Health 



PROGRAM/MISSION : Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 



CLASSIFICATION : Human 



DISCIPLINE(S) : Environmental health 



OBJECTIVES : To insure the health and safety of crewmembers. 



PROTOCOL : Physical examination, inflight biomedical instrumentation. 



EQUIPMENT : Bioinstrumentation electrodes. 



RESULTS : All three crewmembers experienced the now classical fullness-of-the- 

 head sensation immediately after Earth-orbital insertion. This symptom was 

 mild and did not interfere with the crew's performance. 



The U. S. crew was exposed to toxic gases, mostly nitrogen tetroxide (NpOj.), 

 from inadvertent reaction control system (RCS) firings during the descent 

 phase, 30 seconds after drogue deployment. The N ? Oj^ entered the CM through 

 the cabin pressure relief valve, which was opened during the landing sequence. 



The chief complaints consisted of burning of the eyes with profuse tearing, 

 burning sensation and itching of the exposed skin surfaces which subsided 

 shortly after they left the spacecraft, tightness of the chest, retrosternal 

 burning sensation, and inability to inhale deeply which led to a nonproductive 

 and nonspasmodic cough. The review of systems was noncontributory. The three 

 astronauts were in no acute distress and all were oriented to time, person, 

 and place. 



CONCLUSIONS : Follow-up detailed medical evaluations were performed 4 weeks 

 after the initial exposure to N„0^ vapors. It was established that there were 

 no obvious residual after effects from the exposure to toxic fumes. 



PUBLICATIONS : 407 



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