David Saint-Jacques Holds His First Post-Landing News ConferenceMarc Boucher June 29, 2019
Adjusting to Earth’s gravity affects every astronaut differently, for David Saint-Jacques getting his equilibrium back to normal has been one of the issues.
That was one of the comments Saint-Jacques made during his first news conference after landing late last Monday night.
While he was clearly feeling the negative effects of transitioning from the microgravity of being on the International Space Station when he first returned to Earth, he looked much better today.
During the news conference he was accompanied by the Canadian Space Agency’s Natalie Hirsch, exercise and nutrition specialist, and Raffi Kuyumjian, the flight surgeon.
“In descending, the force of gravity is strong. It’s like having four people sitting on your chest,” he told the audience, which included members of Saint-Jacques’ family. “It’s hard to breathe, but you have to concentrate to make sure you breathe well and don’t get hurt.”
He added that when the parachute opens before landing, “there is a big movement like a pendulum, left to right, and the landing is a crash like a car accident.”
Thirsk, who spent 188 days on the space station in 2009, said despite the jarring impact, injuries are rare because the seats in the capsule are designed to keep the astronauts protected.
Saint-Jacques, along with NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz capsule. He gave a thumbs-up as he was carried from the capsule following what NASA described as a “picture perfect” landing at 10:47 p.m. ET.
During a mission that began Dec. 3, Saint-Jacques took part in a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk and set a record for the longest single space flight by a Canadian at 204 days. He also became the first Canadian astronaut to use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to perform a so-called “cosmic catch” to snag a SpaceX cargo capsule.
The engineer, astrophysicist and family doctor also oversaw science experiments and had numerous discussions with children across the country during his mission.
His next few weeks will be spent recovering from the physical challenges of the flight and readapting to life on Earth after months in zero gravity.
Saint-Jacques is expected to spend weeks or months recovering from the after-effects of the flight, which could include blood circulation problems, muscle pains and an elongated spine that will eventually return to normal.
Raffi Kuyumjian, a doctor with the Canadian Space Agency, has said spending six months in space is “a little like having spent six months in bed without moving.”
In a recent interview, he told The Canadian Press that Saint-Jacques is likely to struggle with balance and co-ordination, as well as a loss of bone density.
Kuyumjian said Saint-Jacques will work with specialists in the gym to help him regain his muscle tone, cardio fitness, and endurance. He will also undergo a separate series of tests for research purposes, to measure how the human body reacts to space flight.
Beyond the muscle and balance issues, it’s likely Saint-Jacques could suffer from a type of reverse motion sickness Kuyumjian dubs “Earth sickness.”
“So the symptoms of nausea that generally come when astronauts arrive in space, there is the equivalent when they return to Earth,” he said.
https://www.spaceq.ca/david-saint-jacques-holds-his-first-post-landing-news-conference/
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