Today, Nasa will release what has been dubbed a “shocking report” claiming two of its astronauts flew while intoxicated and managers just turned their heads, doing nothing about it.
Digital Journal — While the astronauts will not be named in the report, doctors and crew mates say drunken astronauts were permitted to board the space shuttle despite warnings they were taking big risks for themselves and putting others in danger.
According to Aviation Week, an independent panel drew up the report last night and plans to hold a press conference sometime Friday afternoon.
In the report, astronauts are accused of “heavy use” of alcohol on at least two separate occasions prior to mission launches. Nasa prohibits astronauts from consuming alcohol up to 12 hours before launch, in its “bottle to throttle” rule.
The damning report will no doubt shake the organization which, in February, also dealt with the public embarrassment of having one of its astronauts (Lisa Nowak) reportedly drive for hours wearing a diaper before being arrested for assault.
In this report, Aviation Week says Nasa managers are being blamed for knowing about the intoxicated astronauts, and doing nothing about it.
Nasa spokesperson David Mould told the Washington Post, “We take this and other parts of the reports very seriously and will look into it. But we need to verify the facts before we can know what the appropriate action might be.”
While not much clarity on the issue will be available until the report is presented publicly later today, Mould did warn it might not refer to space shuttle flights and instead test flights of other vehicles.
Two internal investigations were prompted from the Nowak incidents in February. One internal review (overseen by a panel of military and civilian government doctors, psychologists, lawyers and astronauts) was designed to evaluate psychological stress and strain on astronauts and how Nasa has dealt with them. The second review at Johnson Space Center in Houston looked at the psychological screening of upcoming astronauts.
In an interview with Time, NASA’s space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, was asked if he ever personally dealt with safety issues as a result of an intoxicated astronaut. Gerstenmaier said, “The obvious answer is no. I’ve never had any instances of that. There’s not been a disciplinary action or anything I’ve been involved with regarding this type of activity,” he said.
The chairman of the House Science and Technology committee in Washington says he has not seen the report, but if it is true, “the agency will have a lot of explaining to do.”
