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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Drunken astronauts allowed to fly, panel says-Report mentions ‘heavy use of alcohol’ immediately before flight Drunken astronauts allowed to fly, panel says Report mentions ‘heavy use of alcohol’ immediately before flight Did they drink — and fly the shuttle? July 27: A NASA report alleges that astronauts were drunk before flying on a space shuttle mission. NBC's Don Teague reports. Today show INTERACTIVE Shuttle history Trace every flight of America's space fleet THE SPACE SHUTTLE FILE Meet the Atlantis crew Shipshape shuttle: Upgrades to the fleet Quiz: How well do you know the shuttle? 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Rowling tells what happens next Cat plays furry grim reaper at nursing home Bikini belly busters — 10 ways to improve abs Most viewed on http://MSNBC.com MSNBC staff and news service reports Updated: 41 minutes ago NASA let astronauts fly drunk on at least two occasions, an independent panel said in a report released Friday. The report gave no names and did not say when the drinking occurred, how many astronauts were involved, or whether they were flying on the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spaceship, or aboard NASA’s training airplanes. NASA officials let them fly even after flight surgeons and fellow astronauts raised concerns that flight safety might be jeopardized, according to the report, done by a panel created by NASA after the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February on charges she tried to kidnap her rival in a love triangle. Story continues below [5;advertisement The panel said that astronauts and flight surgeons told the committee about "heavy use of alcohol by astronauts in the immediate preflight period." Also, the panel said alcohol is "freely used in crew quarters," where astronauts are quarantined at the Kennedy Space Center in the three days before launch. The report said NASA was not equipped to deal adequately with episodes of flying after drinking. "The medical certification of astronauts for flight duty is not structured to detect such episodes, nor is any medical surveillance program by itself likely to detect them or change the pattern of alcohol use," it said. The report called for changes to NASA procedures to monitor alcohol use and act on concerns that are raised by crew members, flight surgeons or others. Alcohol use was addressed in just one of the 12-page report's 36 findings. The independent panel's report, as well as the findings from an internal study of astronaut screening procedures, were released via NASA's Web site on Friday. The reports were discussed during a news briefing Friday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Click for related content * Independent panel’s review (PDF file) * Internal review by Johnson Space Center (PDF file) * NASA’s public medical review fact sheet (PDF file) * Frequently asked questions from NASA NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said the agency would be changing its policies to address the panel's concerns. She said NASA managers would work with flight surgeons as well as the astronaut corps to become more responsive to astronaut fitness issues. "We will act immediately on more troubling aspects of this report," she said. NASA's historical rule forbidding alcohol use in the 12 hours before flight would be strictly enforced for all spacecraft, she said. Dale stressed that the report passed along allegations about alcohol use but "did not verify these claims." Former astronaut Bryan O'Connor, NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, would conduct a safety review to look into the allegations, she said. "If any incident occurred, he will determine the causes and recommend action," Dale said. The report came to light even as NASA was dealing with an alleged case of space-computer sabotage, and served to highlight the challenges facing the space agency as it moves from the "right stuff" stereotypes of its past into a less forgiving future. "Astronauts used to get away with all manner of rule-breaking back in the 1980s and 1990s, when NASA top managers used the astronaut office as their auxiliary drinking team, baseball team and dating service," said NBC News space analyst James Oberg, a 22-year veteran of NASA's Mission Control. "That has largely been cleaned up under the last two administrators." Nowak's case, however, illustrated that bad behavior can still surface. Although Nowak's case sparked the independent review, the panel's report does not mention her or address the case directly. The report's findings first came to light in an article posted online Thursday by Aviation Week & Space Technology. In Washington, the chairman of the House Science and Technology committee said Thursday that he hadn’t yet seen the report, "but if the reports of drunken astronauts being allowed to fly prove to be true, I think the agency will have a lot of explaining to do." "That’s not the 'right stuff' as far as I’m concerned," said Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. The independent medical review panel is chaired by U.S. Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann, dean of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, and includes physicians, psychologists, lawyers and safety experts from military and civilian government agencies. The panel members visited Johnson Space Center in April to gather information about astronaut health screening. Slide show Cosmic Sightings Galaxies, supernovas and night clouds light up stunning imagery from the final frontier. The other review of astronaut screening procedures was conducted by Michael Coats, a former astronaut who is now director of Johnson Space Center. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin ordered the reviews after Nowak, who flew on a shuttle mission last year, was arrested Feb. 5 in Florida on charges she assaulted Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, whom she viewed as a romantic rival for another astronaut. Nowak drove all night from Houston to Orlando to confront Shipman as she arrived at the Orlando airport. The initial police report indicated that Nowak wore an adult diaper to cut down on restroom breaks while driving, but Nowak's legal counsel has contested that and other claims. The internal report looked at whether NASA co-workers picked up the warning signs of any psychological or emotional problems Nowak might have had. The report said some people took note of an incident last October, after Nowak's spaceflight, when she was "difficult and rude to workers" during a public appearance in New York. Others were quoted as saying she was "a little disappointed" over missing out on a crew assignment in December. But the report said "there were no indications that something could have predicted the events that occurred [in February], or that anything should have been done to change them." The internal report said NASA should include behavioral assessments in conjunction with the astronauts' annual physicals and flight preparations — and put more emphasis on aeronautical adaptability in astronaut medical selections. From right stuff to wrong approach In the early days of the space program, when most astronauts came from the ranks of military test pilots, some of the fliers cultivated a bad-boy image — complete with womanizing, hard drinking and hard driving. As time went on, the astronaut corps took on increasing numbers of women and put more emphasis on a button-down, straight-arrow stereotype. In the background, however, astronauts were still known to bend if not break the rules — sometimes with the collusion of flight surgeons who hoped to become astronauts themselves someday, Oberg said. Click for related content Discuss: What should be done about the ‘wrong stuff’? Computer for space station sabotaged, NASA says NASA to review astronaut screening process Cosmic Log: Do astronauts and alcohol mix? Former NASA flight surgeon Pat Santy, author of the book "Choosing the Right Stuff," acknowledged that some astronauts were given a wide berth when it came to their drinking habits as well as other medical matters. But that's not necessarily the flight surgeons' fault, she said. "I do know of many instances where the flight surgeon's recommendations were ignored by the agency," she told http://MSNBC.com. Santy laid the blame for bad behavior not so much on the astronauts, but on NASA managers who looked the other way. The risks of spaceflight are such that the astronaut corps will continue to attract the same personality types found in the military's "Top Gun" corps, she said. "They are always going to push the envelope," she said. "What that personality needs is structure and limit-setting, in order to maximize the productivity that they can bring to the organization." In Santy's view, making NASA kinder and gentler would be the exactly wrong thing to do. "A kinder, gentler NASA is what we've got," she said. Instead, NASA should take a page from the military — attracting the test-pilot types, but making sure they stay in line. If NASA were to ground misbehaving astronauts as a matter of course, that would be "a positive development," Santy said. A more docile, risk-averse astronaut corps is the last thing NASA needs, she said: "How are you going to explore the universe without taking risks?" This report includes information from Reuters, The Associated Press, NBC News and http://MSNBC.com.
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#1. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
BFD. Part of our new Puritanism. Heck, read the "The Right Stuff" and see what would make jet fighter test pilots and jocks undertake these endeavours. Next, we'll have a scandal about how the goobers encouraged the establishment of brothels like the Mustang Ranch to service all these flyboys.
The meek may inherit the earth -- but not its mineral rights. -- J. Paul Getty
Yeah...Yeager was NEVER a tea-toattler...if memory serves he flew the first flight of the Bell X-1 with broken ribs from a horse riding accident, incurred while drinking.
We've gone nuts, we want the ultimate risk takers to risk their lives, but act like monks. well, some of those old monks orders were rather ribald and bawdy.
The meek may inherit the earth -- but not its mineral rights. -- J. Paul Getty
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