RELEASE: 93-060 11 a.m. CDT

ASTRONAUT BAGIAN TAKES LEAVE OF ABSENCE

Astronaut James P. Bagian, M.D., P.E., is taking a leave of absence from NASA to work as Vice-President of Corporate Development and Medical Affairs at Somanetics Corp., Troy, Mich. Bagian will use his medical and engineering expertise

to head up the company's clinical research activities.

Bagian became an astronaut in July 1980 and took part in the planning and provision of emergency medical and rescue support for the first 6 Space Shuttle flights. He was a mission specialist on Space Shuttle missions STS-29 in March 1989 and on STS-40 in June 1991.

On his first Shuttle flight, Bagian was the principal investigator for an experiment to study the changes of cerebral blood flow and its relationship to space adaptation

syndrome and space motion sickness. He was the first to treat space sickness with the drug Phenergan by intramuscular injection, which was the first successful treatment regimen for the symptoms. This method now has been adopted by NASA as the standard of care for the control of space sickness in Shuttle crews.

Bagian's second Shuttle flight was the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission, and the crew members performed experiments which explored how the heart, blood vessels,

lungs, kidneys and hormone-secreting glands respond to microgravity, the causes of space sickness and changes in muscles, bones and cells which occur in humans during space flight.

Bagian will return to flight status upon his return to NASA.

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