Glenn plunges into least glamorous part of his job

Published: Sunday, November 01, 1998

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - John Glenn plunged into the least glamorous part of his space shuttle job Saturday: saving urine, giving blood and taking amino acids.

The 77-year-old senator, blissfully back in orbit after 36 years, said before the flight that he found it no more demeaning than "taking part in some research in a hospital someplace."

The world's oldest space traveler took time out from his round-the-clock geriatric tests to answer questions from middle and high school students at John Glenn High School in New Concord, Ohio, his hometown, and at two museums, one in Columbus, Ohio, and the other in Arlington, Va. Commander Curtis Brown Jr. joined in the 30-minute discussion.

Glenn laughed when asked if he feels younger in space.

"I guess I feel young all the time. That's the reason I volunteered to come up here," he said. "It's an advantage up here for older folks because in zero-g you can move around much more easily. I've been bumping my head a lot on things as I float around here, but that's all right."

He laughed again when asked if it was worth waiting 36 years for a second chance to fly in space.

"Yes! A one-word answer. I guess I should just stop there," said Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

After two days in orbit, Glenn had his first blood samples taken by Discovery's chief doctor, Scott Parazynski. He also gulped down an amino acid pill before being injected with another amino acid.

Researchers want to see how well alanine and histidine are absorbed by Glenn's weightless muscles, and how fast protein in his muscles builds up and breaks down.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the findings may provide a better understanding of the aging process on Earth and assist doctors in treating bedridden patients whose muscles become shriveled.

Fortunately for Glenn, the needles used for the blood draws and histidine infusions were short and slender - about the size of sewing needles.

"Everybody complains about being stuck like a pin cushion, but that's the only way you can get this data," said John Charles, a NASA life sciences researcher. "Until somebody invents a tricorder like on `Star Trek,' that's how we get the data."

Glenn also began collecting urine samples as part of the muscle-protein experiment and got ready for the most complicated test of all: a sleep study requiring that he be wired up with 23 sensors for four nights starting late tonight. The sensors will measure his breathing, snoring, eye and chin-muscle movements, and brain waves.

The first step of the sleep study involved swallowing a radio transmitter and thermometer encapsulated in a large pill. Radio signals from the transmitter, providing the details of Glenn's internal body temperature, were being recorded nonstop on a special belt around his waist.

Japanese physician-astronaut Chiaki Mukai, the other sleep-study subject, will take the hormone melatonin to see if it helps her sleep. Glenn was barred two months ago from taking melatonin for undisclosed medical reasons.

Researchers hope the experiment will help explain why so many astronauts lose one to three hours of sleep each night they're in orbit, and why the elderly tend to have trouble sleeping down on Earth.

Discovery's seven-member crew had to deal with few equipment problems Saturday, one of them involving a new water purifier that leaked and then made the water taste bad.

Mission Control instructed the astronauts to switch to an old but reliable system for removing iodine from their water. NASA officials said any excess iodine in the water would not spoil any of the medical experiments.

