Sick shuttle astronaut in no danger: ESA

By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hans Schlegel, the German astronaut on space shuttle Atlantis whose illness forced NASA to delay a spacewalk, is not suffering a dangerous ailment and should be able to resume his normal duties, the European Space Agency said on Sunday.

The Atlantis crew was supposed to install Europe's laboratory Columbus on the International Space Station on Sunday, but NASA put it off until Monday due to Schlegel's still-undisclosed health problem.

He was scheduled to be one of two spacewalkers aiding the lab installation but will be replaced by crewmate Stan Love, NASA said.

In a statement, Volker Damaan, head of crew medical support at ESA's Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, said Schlegel's ailment "is currently not compatible with a spacewalk."

The condition developed after Atlantis launched from Florida on Thursday and "is neither life threatening nor does it impact the health of other crew members," Damaan said.

Schlegel, 56, sounded cheery after a musical wake-up call by Mission Control early on Sunday.

"Good morning, everybody. Thank you very much for this piece of music. It's a German song about the nature of man and was selected by my dear wife," Schlegel said.

Schlegel, whose only previous flight was a 1993 shuttle mission, is scheduled for another spacewalk on Wednesday, which Damaan said "at this moment" doctors were "confident" he could perform.