NASA Test Drug Nearly Killed Astronaut, Report Says

Astronaut Bonnie Dunbar nearly died last October after suffering an allergic reaction to an experimental drug during a NASA medical experiment, CBS News has reported.

The Atlantis crew member was injected with an experimental dye to measure her blood volume while she prepared for the shuttle’s recent linkup with the Russian space station Mir, the network said. The drug was not approved for human use in the United States.

Based on NASA documents and interviews, CBS said Friday that Dunbar’s heart and breathing stopped, and she was rushed to a hospital. CBS did not name the hospital.

The report said a NASA investigation found that lifesaving supplies were missing from the lab where the experiment was done.

It also said two other astronauts were given the dye and that the drug was once used aboard a shuttle, sickening an astronaut in orbit.

“There were mistakes made, and I think we are already underway to clarify those mistakes,” Carolyn Huntoon, director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told CBS.

New rules being drafted will require independent observers to watch over medical tests, CBS said.

Dunbar, 46, a biomedical engineer from Sunnyside, Wash., participated in the June 30 docking of the U.S. and Russian spacecraft.

The shuttle and station parted ways Tuesday after five historic days flying as a single 223-ton spaceship--the biggest ever to orbit Earth.

Dunbar joined NASA as a flight controller in 1978 and became an astronaut in 1981. The shuttle mission is her fourth space trip.