WASHINGTON (States News Service) - A NASA spokesman confirmed Thursday that the agency was looking into problems with air quality and circulation on the International Space Station, but said a final report would not be available until December when a shuttle crew returns from orbit with air samples.

NASA Administrator Dan Goldin had no comment yet, said spokesman Dwayne Brown, but he knew Goldin was interested in the subject and keeping track of it. "I'm quite sure he will probably be briefed on it fully" when a report comes out, Brown said.

The agency first heard of problems back in June when astronauts from the STS 96 mission reported in a debriefing that they had suffered nausea, itchy eyes, and headaches while working in some parts of the space station. Because each astronaut's medical condition is protected by privacy laws, NASA did not release any of its preliminary findings.

But the NASA Watch website obtained a copy of a related presentation last week, making the issue public.

"From what I understand, that [document] is accurate," Brown said.

A "tiger team" of medical doctors and engineers is attacking the problem, and a spokesman at Houston's Johnson Space Center said it appears to be a problem of excess carbon dioxide building up due to poor ventilation.

But a final report will not be available until STS 101 revisits the space station to take samples and, if necessary, make changes to the station, Brown said.

"We didn't know they got sick until they got back," Brown said, referring to the astronauts of STS 96. "If they had reported it during the flight, we would have gotten air samples then."