May 2002

Following the announcement of *NSYNC’s “hiatus”, updates on individual member activities began to surface. On May 20th, road manager Melinda Bell posted a journal entry outlining what each member was working on—marking one of the first public summaries of the group’s post-hiatus direction. Lance Bass underwent heart surgery in Russia amid conflicting reports about his status in the Soyuz mission, while Justin Timberlake reportedly recorded music and did a photo shoot during a visit to Philadelphia. This entry offers early insight into how the group’s break began to take shape across personal and professional projects.

1) On May 17th Katrillion.com reported that Lance Bass was in Russia after having heart surgery on May 1st. The article also stated that Lance would soon find out if he was accepted for the space mission.
Author(s): Valerie Nome
Title: Lance Undergoes Heart Surgery
Original Source: Katrillion.com
Current Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20020804125039/http://www.katrillion.com/music/musicgrabber.jsp?categoryId=4&newsId=21405

2) In a May 20th post Melinda Bell provided brief updates for what each of the guys was up to at the time.
Author(s): Melinda Bell
Title: Melinda’s Corner
Original Source: Nsync.com/melindas_corner.html
Current Link: http://web.archive.org/20030425162735/nsync.com/melindas_corner.html

3) A post from The Philadelphia Daily News website claimed that Justin recorded music and did a photo shoot while visiting the city.
Author(s): Stu Bykofsky
Title: Un ‘Synced: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE HERE ON SECRET MISSION
Original Source: Philly.Com
Current Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20021104105435/http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/3319321.htm

4) Different media outlets shared conflicting reports about the status of Lance’s participation in the Soyuz mission.
Author(s): Valerie Nome
Title: Lance Cleared for Space Mission
Original Source: Katrillion.com
Current Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20020602004822/http://www.katrillion.com/music/musicgrabber.jsp?categoryId=4&newsId=21583

Author(s): Unknown
Title: Russia Denies *NSYNC Space Plan
Original Source: BBC Radio 1 website
Current Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20020601124113/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/news/020529_nsync.shtml