Russian astronaut is not ill

The health condition of Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin enables him to continue to perform his functions of a flight engineer at the International Space Station /ISS/. It was "improper to speak" of some kind of disease, which was prematurely reported by various media agencies.

This was disclosed by coordinator of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration /NASA/ representation in the Russian Mission Control Center /TSUP/ Sergey Puzanov.

According to the initial plan, Budarin and Commander of the expedition Kenneth Bowersox had to walk in the open space in order to install extra panels with solar batteries onto the surface of the station, he said. However, another American astronaut Donald Pettit was charged with this mission.

In the course of the works in the open space, Budarin will remain on board of the ISS and will be aiding his colleagues by monitoring their actions, Puzanov said.

The fact that the Russian cosmoonaut has been replaced for this work "does not mean at all that he is ill". "Due to the hard work in the open space, which can be compared to an emergency situation and demands high physical strength, the replacement of the cosmonaut was necessary," the NASA representative said.

"The same situation can be observed in sports. If an athlete is not prepared well enough for the important competition, he will surely lose that competition. The same story with Budarin, who was not well prepared for the work in the open space in accordance with a number of medical parameters", Puzanov stressed.