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Here's one example of how microorganisms can make space travelers sick. |
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Did you learn about Apollo 13 in school, or did you see the 1995 movie based on the mission? |
NASA astronaut Fred Haise got very sick on the Apollo 13 mission to the moon in 1970. It turned out that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the cause. The pathogen entered his body from a piece of his equipment. Meanwhile, a problem with their spacecraft meant the astronauts had to abandon the mission before they completed it. They had to do some very fast thinking to find a new way of getting home. Before reentering the Earth's atmosphere, they cast off the craft's "service module" and "lunar module," where they had to stay while traveling in space. This happened after they had transferred to the craft's cone-shaped "command module," which is what splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. Haise became feverish and sluggish during a dangerous situation. NASA doctors said if the ordeal had gone on any longer, Haise might have passed the infection to the other two crew members. Luckily, the crew made it back to Earth safely. |
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