An astronaut suddenly couldn’t speak in space. What does that mean for future missions?

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — Five months into his fourth International Space Station mission, veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke was having dinner the day before a routine spacewalk. Suddenly, he found himself unable to speak. The episode in January lasted just 20 minutes and while Fincke felt no pain, he became agitated. “It was