Panel Finds Astronauts Flew While Intoxicated
Jul 26, 2007 By Frank Morring, Jr./Aviation Week & Space Technology A panel reviewing astronaut health issues in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk.
The panel, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members.
A NASA spokesman declined comment on the findings, which were obtained by Aviation Week & Space Technology. The spokesman said a press conference has tentatively been scheduled for Friday afternoon on the issue. At the direction of Administrator Michael Griffin, NASA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard S. Williams set up the panel to review astronaut medical and psychological screening after Nowak was arrested in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 5 on charges of attempted murder and attempted kidnapping for allegedly stalking and threatening a woman who was dating another astronaut. The attempted murder charge was subsequently dropped.
The panel is composed of military and civilian government physicians, psychologists, lawyers, safety experts and astronauts under the chairmanship of U.S. Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann, dean of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. Panel members visited Johnson Space Center in April to gather information from flight surgeons and the astronaut office on astronaut health screening. A panel member said Wednesday the report was still in draft form, and probably would be released in August. Separately, Griffin ordered JSC Director Mike Coats to review intake and on-going psychological screening for astronaut candidates and astronauts, and to recommend changes if necessary.
Griffin also directed Coats, himself a former astronaut, to "determine whether there were any areas of concern - any leading indicators we might have picked up on, based on Lisa Nowak's dealings with other astronauts or NASA employees," in the words of Deputy Administrator Shana Dale.
The Bachmann panel report apparently does not deal directly with Nowak or mention any other astronaut by name. Coats' findings also will be part of the press conference on Friday, according to the agency spokesman.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)
So! They're not so brave after all!
― dean ge, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)
THE HATCH JUST BLEW
― sexyDancer, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)
Astronaut sounds like the worst fucking job in the world.
― kenan, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/30/9c/4b2792c008a043ad9afe8010._AA240_.L.jpg
― eater, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)
er, guys?
NASA delays shuttle launch for one day
― StanM, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:30 (eighteen years ago)
That thread was started in 2005 and has no reference to drunkeness in the title!
― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:33 (eighteen years ago)
BOTTLE TO THROTTLE!
― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)
http://bloggbilder.aftonbladet.se/images/11433/img_45c066590470d.jpg
― eater, Friday, 27 July 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.epinions.com/images/opti/a4/6f/Playmates_Toy_Inc_The_Simpsons_Deep_Space_Homer_Mini_Figure_5_Pack_Toys-resized200.jpg
― Phil D., Friday, 27 July 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)
Is this a well-known problem among astronauts and I am just now learning about it?
― dean ge, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:10 (eighteen years ago)
astronauts be blue-collar joes with difficult, incredibly dangerous jobs.
― kenan, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:11 (eighteen years ago)
I mean, I'd drink, too, if I put my life in the hands of NASA on a regular basis.
― kenan, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:12 (eighteen years ago)
Blue-collar joes with Ph.D.'s in physics from MIT.
― jaymc, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:14 (eighteen years ago)
I got really drunk with a middle-aged rocket scientist at a friend's office party once...husband of an employee where she worked. Man, that guy was great. Based on this one isolated incident, these MIT people know how to drink.
Like, Real Genius...LAZORS leading the way to the party!
― Abbott, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)
The whole launch process is pretty rough on the body, isn't it? I'm trying to figure out why people who fly things seem to be drunk all the time, and while I'd like a straightforward explanation like "body stress," it seems more like that's just the culture of people who are away from home a lot flying things. Or sailing things.
― nabisco, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)
Everybody now:
what shall we do with a drunken astronaut what shall we do with a drunken astronaut...
― nabisco, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)
it seems more like that's just the culture of people who are away from home a lot
Heck, I know people who drink a lot and pretty much never leave home.
― dean ge, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:25 (eighteen years ago)
Hello! It's satisfying.
― Abbott, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:26 (eighteen years ago)
maybe it's really isolating? and yeah, stressful. and yeah, you might blow up.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:27 (eighteen years ago)
they're gonna puke it all up as soone as they hit a couple Gs anyway
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 July 2007 18:55 (eighteen years ago)
I remember reading that the soviet cosmonauts had a tradition that you didn't get through the space-station airlock unless you sprayed some vodka in first; this was a horrible culture shock to the clean-cut NASA types when they first started to work together.
― Soukesian, Friday, 27 July 2007 19:00 (eighteen years ago)
It's a disinfectant, right?
― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 July 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)
I just assume that everyone in the Russian space program is drunk 24-7. When you think about what it must be like to launch off in a Soyuz from Baikonur Cosmodrome uhhhh, I'd probably wanna be hammered too.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 July 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)
Still, I'd take Soyuz over the Shuttle every time, drunk or sober.
― Soukesian, Friday, 27 July 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)
Commie scum.
― jaymc, Friday, 27 July 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)
haha so would I - Russian cosmonaut culture may be more wild and unhinged, but to compensate for that they go for simpler engineering designs that last and withstand constant abuse, even if in the end they need to be held together with duct tape. none of this over-budget, "we forgot to carry the one"-type weenie mistakes for them.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 July 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)
Apparently cosmonauts are allowed bring vodka into space.
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Saturday, 28 July 2007 14:35 (eighteen years ago)