End of astronaut experiment on earth

Stephen Snitzky's feet have touched the ground for the first time since August. This healthy man agrees to help science by lying still in bed or floating in a body-length armor of 12. week, now come back to walk in the first trembling movement.

Cleveland Hospital

Scientists at Cleveland Hospital (USA) are addicted to research on bone loss and muscle atrophy hoping that his work will someday be useful to astronauts.

Now, 31-year-old Snitzky, on the outskirts of Euclid, will move back to strengthen his health, and will return to work in January.

During the study period, Snitzky read 29 books, watched 25 movies. He estimated to have played solitaire about 1,000 times. While in bed, Snitzky was always in a head state a little lower than his feet, and his feet never touched the ground. " It's a strange feeling ," Snitzky said.

He is one of two test participants at the Center for Space Medicine Research at Cleveland Hospital , under the auspices of the US Space Agency (NASA).

Similar studies are being carried out at the University of Texas, a branch in Galveston, Texas. Every 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, participants float in a device that creates weightlessness. Some research proceeds in a vertical reel to create this weightless state, but others, like Snitzky, do not. Researchers will then compare the body's responses in situations.

The other man in the Cleveland study did not want to publish his identity.

Peter Cavanagh, head of the hospital's biomedical engineering department, said he was looking for another 22 people to join the research course. They must be non-smokers, aged 21 to 50 years old and not suffering from orthopedic, bone disease and vascular disease.

Researchers will follow Snitzky closely this week, and then he will have 8 weeks for physical therapy. Cavanagh said Snitzky might have some joint pain.

T. An ( according to AP )