Houston - Long before NASA was confronted with an off-duty astronaut's bizarre behavior and arrest in Florida earlier this month, the agency had developed procedures to deal with a mental breakdown in space.

The guidelines were developed to respond to an attempted suicide or severe anxiety, paranoia or hysteria aboard the international space station. Astronauts are instructed to bind the stricken flier's wrists and ankles with duct tape, restrain the torso with bungee cords and administer strong tranquilizers.

The procedures have been in effect for at least six years, but the space agency did not develop any protocols for dealing with astronauts who become unstable while on the ground.

NASA said Friday that it has never had to take the drastic actions outlined in the procedures in 46 years of human space flight.

"If there had been anything like this, you would have heard about it," said James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman. "Our policy is that anything that impacts a mission, any medical matter that impacts a mission, we make it public knowledge."

The directions for dealing with a psychological emergency are included in a 1,051-page NASA document titled the International Space Station Integrated Medical Group Medical Checklist. The checklist, which was written in Russian and English, was compiled in 2000 and 2001 to coincide with the permanent staffing of the space station. Three dozen astronauts and cosmonauts have lived aboard the orbital outpost for periods of up to six-and-a-half months since full-time staffing began in early November 2000.

The lengthy checklist, which NASA posts on a Web site available to the public --www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/163533main_ISS_Med_CL.pdf -- includes responses for a wide range of potential medical emergencies, including severe chest pain, choking, burns, broken bones and severe allergic reactions.

"We try to predict every possible circumstance that could affect a mechanical system or a medical problem. We try to prepare," Hartsfield said. "The checklists deal with anything that a crew emergency might have to deal with, from injuries and illness to systems on board the station."

In response to a psychological emergency, the procedure calls on the colleagues of a stricken astronaut to confer with a flight surgeon in Mission Control as quickly as possible. However, the procedures grant the astronauts authority to restrain and provide medication immediately if the spacecraft is not in communication with the Earth.

The response plan calls for other crew members to speak with the troubled astronaut and attempt to explain that the restraints are being applied as a safety precaution.

According to the checklist, another crewmember with medical training should remain with the stricken astronaut to monitor pulse rates while deliberations with Mission Control are under way.

The checklist does not spell out what happens after the emergency phase passes.

But an ultimate decision on whether to take further medical action, or even to end a flight with an emergency landing, would be made by the mission commander after discussions with medical experts in Mission Control, Hartsfield said.

That sort of decision would have to be made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Following the Feb. 5 arrest of off-duty astronaut Lisa Nowak at Orlando International Airport in Florida, NASA announced it was re-assessing its procedures for screening the mental health of astronauts as well as applicants to the astronaut corps.

Currently, astronauts are tested and screened during the application process. Once they join the astronaut corps, the fliers are expected to seek help with mental health issues if they need it. One exception has been made for astronauts assigned to space station crews. They are monitored closely during their training and during the mission.

Nowak was charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and battery after an alleged confrontation with another woman believed by the 43-year-old flier to be a rival for the affections of a male astronaut. The confrontation, police said, followed a 900-mile drive from Houston in which Nowalk wore diapers to avoid restroom stops. They said she carried plastic trash bags, rubber hoses, a BB pistol, pepper spray, a trenchcoat and a wig.

Nowak, who flew on a July shuttle mission, was placed on 30-day leave by the space agency after her arrest. Though released on bond, she also was removed by NASA from her duties as lead communications officer in Mission Control for the March flight of the shuttle Atlantis.

The space agency maintains a separate medical checklist for its shuttle crews but has not yet made the document available for public scrutiny.

Hartsfield said the provisions for responding to medical emergencies were similar to those of the space station.

The shuttle checklist could be made public following a review by NASA attorneys, he said.