The Doctor Is In …Orbit

An American astronaut on the Mir space station used his skills as a physician to help his injured Russian crewmate, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Friday.

Cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, 54, injured his hand while reaching behind a panel on the Mir earlier this week.

The injury quickly became inflamed, and after consultations with doctors at the Mission Control Center outside Moscow, U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard administered medication.

Thagard, a NASA astronaut, pilot, engineer and physician, is the first American aboard the nine-year-old Mir.

Strekalov, Thagard and cosmonaut Vladimir Dezhurov arrived on the Mir on March 16. They will return to Earth in June.