HE TRAINED for his mission for years, meticulously rehearsing every step of what was meant to be one of Nasa's most important spacewalks.
But astronaut Hans Schlegel's place in history was abruptly cancelled yesterday as he fought a mystery medical problem in space.
Nasa managers shelved plans to send father-of-seven Mr Schlegel, 56, outside the International Space Station (ISS) on
a risky construction project 210 miles above Earth.
The spacewalk was rescheduled for today, with Mr Schlegel set to be substituted by colleague Stan Love, 42.
Mission controllers in Houston were clearly caught off guard by Mr Schlegel's health news as shuttle commander Steve Frick called them over the radio to discuss it on Friday in the middle of a tricky 17,500mph flight manoeuvre shortly before docking with the ISS.
John Shannon, the chairman of Nasa's mission management team, admitted that the timing "was a little bit of a surprise to us", but refused to reveal the nature of the problem.
Mr Schlegel spoke clearly over the radio to mission control yesterday and on live video feed from the ISS appeared fit and active. Mission controllers at the European Space Agency sent a message to the crew yesterday saying: "We're all keeping our fingers crossed for him to get better soon."
Spacewalks – also known as EVAs, or extra-vehicular activities – are highly choreographed affairs that require peak fitness because of the environment and the difficulty of moving inside the £5 million spacesuits.
"It has been a dream since I've been an astronaut for me to go EVA one time," Mr Schlegel said before the mission.
The full article contains 275 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
