# What is the worst illness/injury an astronaut has had in space? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779 "2012-11-21T23:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/1 "2012-11-21T23:28:34Z")
I’m subscribed to a few NASA channels, including daily vids from/about the ISS, and have becoming hooked. See subject. Even a cold–and then everyone gets one, I guess. ETA: Astronaut ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/2 "2012-11-21T23:35:13Z")
:smack:Worst ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/3 "2012-11-21T23:46:14Z")
Well, there’s burning up in the atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/4 "2012-11-21T23:48:01Z")
[Fred Haise suffered a urinary tract infection](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13#Re-entry_and_splashdown) during the latter part of the Apollo 13 “abort” mission. Not sure if that’s the worst, but it’s a starting point. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/5 "2012-11-21T23:51:58Z")
If you include deaths, the depressurization of Soyuz 11 and the breakup of Columbia- although the latter might qualify as “high atmosphere” rather than “space”. ETA: beaten to Apollo 13 reference. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/6 "2012-11-22T14:41:54Z")
There is [Alexander Laveikin](http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-24/news/mn-3858_1_soviet-cosmonaut), who during his stay on Mir developed heart problems and had to be evacuated. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/7 "2012-11-22T16:39:46Z")
One of the astronauts on Apollo 8 (Pete Conrad, IIRC) got pretty space sick on that ride. Jim Lovell said that the command module was pretty gross. But yeah, Haise on Apollo 13 was running fever and feeling pretty damn miserable. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/8 "2012-11-22T16:52:16Z")
That brings up a related question. Any space farers get space sick and pretty much NOT get over it till the ride was over? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/9 "2012-11-22T16:57:51Z")
James Irwin had a heart attack on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/10 "2012-11-22T21:15:44Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > James Irwin had a heart attack on the moon. Close, but not actually on the moon. In lunar orbit after returning from the surface. And not quite a heart attack-but almost. > **[James Irwin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Irwin)** > > James Benson Irwin (March 17, 1930 – August 8, 1991) was an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot. He served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. He was the 8th person to walk on the Moon. > Irwin was born March 17, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of Scottish, German (maternal side) and Irish descent, to parents James William Irwin (1896–1978), a U.S. Army World War I veteran, and Elsa Mathilda Irwin (née St... A tidbit that I hadn’t heard of before. Thanks. And James Irwin was the first person who walked on the moon to die-of a heart attack in 1991 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/11 "2012-11-22T21:43:13Z")
> [@BlakeTyner](#): > > One of the astronauts on Apollo 8 (Pete Conrad, IIRC) got pretty space sick on that ride. Jim Lovell said that the command module was pretty gross. But yeah, Haise on Apollo 13 was running fever and feeling pretty damn miserable. It wasn’t Pete Conrad. He wasn’t on Apollo 8. It was Frank Borman who became ill and had a bout of vomiting and diarrhea. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-illness-injury-an-astronaut-has-had-in-space/641779/12 "2012-11-22T21:58:01Z")
The astronauts on the Apollo / Soyuz linkup in 1975 were almost poisoned in the final stages of the mission, although again this technically wasn’t _in space_. Quoting Wikipedia: _“The only serious problem was during reentry and splashdown of the Apollo craft, during which the crew were accidentally exposed to toxic nitrogen tetroxide fumes, caused by the reaction control system venting from the spacecraft and reentering a cabin air intake. The RCS was inadvertently left on during descent, and highly toxic nitrogen tetroxide was sucked into the spacecraft as it drew in outside air. Brand briefly lost consciousness, while Stafford retrieved emergency oxygen masks, put one on Brand, and gave one to Slayton. The three astronauts were hospitalized for two weeks in Honolulu.”_ Supposedly _Challenger_ was targeted by a Soviet laser in 1984, on STS-41-G, again quoting Wikipedia: _“A claim was later made that the Soviet Terra-3 laser testing center was used to track Challenger with a low-power laser on 10 October 1984. This supposedly caused the malfunction of on-board equipment and the temporary blinding of the crew, leading to a U.S. diplomatic protest. However, this story has been comprehensively denied by the crew members.”_ Michael Foale and the cosmonauts in Mir came very close to being killed in 1997, when one of the supply drones hit and punctured one of the station’s modules; it would have been a grim task for the next crew to retrieve their bodies.