The Wrong Stuff? NASA Hit By Scandal

Report Finds Astronauts Allegedly Flew Drunk; Worker Accused Of Sabotaging Equipment

(CBS/AP)  At least twice, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a flight-safety risk, an aviation weekly reported Thursday, citing a special panel studying astronaut health.

The report on the panel's findings surfaced just hours after NASA separately said that a space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, an alleged act of sabotage that was caught before the equipment was loaded onto the spaceship.

The independent panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch that was within the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology, which reported the finding on its Web site.

The Aviation Week report doesn't make clear when the alleged incidents occurred, nor does it say whether the intoxication involved crew members who have no role in flying the shuttle or whether it was the pilot and commander.

CBS News has learned that these incidents did not necessarily involve shuttle flights, but may have involved flights on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft or the T-38 jets that astronauts fly.

NASA's space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said Thursday it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the matter before the report is released on Friday.

Asked if he had ever personally had to deal with a safety issue involving an inebriated astronaut in space, Gerstenmaier replied: “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.

In Washington, the chairman of the House Science and Technology committee said he hadn't 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.

NASA plans to release Friday the findings of a pair of reviews — one by the outside committee and the other by an internal panel reporting on the health of astronauts.

A NASA official confirmed that the health report contains claims of alcohol use by astronauts before launch, but said the information is based on anonymous interviews and is unsubstantiated. The official didn't want to be named because NASA plans a news conference Friday to discuss the panel's findings.

"I can't believe it. I never even heard one rumor to that effect, former shuttle commander Rick Searfoss told CBS News correspondent Peter King (audio).

"This floors me as much as the Lisa Nowak thing, almost," Searfoss, who commanded a 1998 mission, said. "I'll tell you what I would do if I was commander. I would in no uncertain terms call the highest person in NASA and say, 'I want this person off the mission,'" and if that didn't work, Searfoss said he would have gone public."

But Searfoss, who was an astronaut from 1991 to 1998 and flew three shuttle missions, said he resented the anonymous allegations in Aviation Week.

"It's a great affront to me to think that I would be lumped in to any group that would have anyone in it that would do something like that," he told King.

"The talk in the hallways of NASA is that one of these incidents was a Soyuz launch and the other was a T-38 jet flight," reports CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood.

The Soyuz is Russia’s primary spacecraft. An American on such a craft would basically be along for the ride, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes. A T-38 is a high-speed jet used by NASA for training.

The panel was created following the arrest in February of former space shuttle flier Lisa Nowak, who was implicated in a love triangle.

"This is extremely embarrassing," adds Harwood, "especially in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest. You know, the thought of an astronaut getting on board ... in any kind of inebriated condition is a very serious thing indeed."

Aviation Week said the report citing drunkenness does not deal directly with Nowak or mention any other astronaut by name.

The independent panel's NASA consultant and its eight members, which include Air Force experts in aerospace medicine and clinical psychiatry, did not immediately return phone messages or e-mails from the Associated Press Thursday afternoon.

Nowak is accused of attacking the girlfriend of a fellow astronaut — her romantic rival — with pepper spray in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport. Fired by NASA in March, she has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.

[gunownerdan]

If I got strapped into a giant rocket full of fuel and about to be shot up into space, I'd rather not be sober.

[michellem99-2009]

They should not drink and fly. They should not drink and drive. No ifs,ands, or buts . No means No. It is my Nation,as I was born here in the US of A. Until proven other wise. I vote. IT IS THE PEOPLE'S NATION. IT IS THE PEOPLE'S SPACE PROGRAMME. IT IS THE PEOPLE'S TAX MONEY. IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO PAY THE LEADERS' PAY CHECKS. IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT PAY FOR THAT ILLEGAL WAR AND THE LIKE. THE CONSTUTION STARTS WE ARE PEOPLE...I AM A MEMBER OF THE PEOPLE.

[down-ndirty]

What AP or CBS reporter could even walk a quarter mile in any astronaut's shoes?
This article is certainly not the "write stuff."
Posted by justfacts at 04:25 PM : Jul 27, 2007
___________

Actually this story was put out at a NASA press conference. The reporters only got 'justfacts' that NASA wanted them to have.

[lastdance2]

Your Tax Dollars - "Federal Employees" ! ! !

What more - Needs to be said ! ! !

In - Oct 2005 :- "FBI" - Director Robert Mueller
Announced :

The "FBI" - would begin to hire people. Who had a history of smoking :
"Marijuana"

Perhaps NASA - Should follow the Example set by : "The FBI"

Lastdance

[ralan40]

Ok, why would anyone, about to be launched into the sky at 7 miles a second to end up in a weightless environment, want to be hungover and dehydrated during the process?

[bealte]

An article with no redeeming value. The basis is that astronauts were allowed to fly too soon after drinking. However, the author doesn't know who. what their positions were, when, how much or even if it can be confirmed that it happened.
No consequence has been identified.
I wonder if the author and other "journalists" would appreciate their entire profession being slandered bacause of a virus getting into one computer and causing gross grammatical and spelling errors.
What AP or CBS reporter could even walk a quarter mile in any astronaut's shoes?
This article is certainly not the "write stuff."

[rach216-2009]

I can understand wanting to have a glass of wine before a space flight (come on, I'd be nervous!), but being inebriated would be ridiculous and should be illegal. I hope the truth is uncovered and justice served.

[down-ndirty]

Maybe NASA should do like they do in NASCAR....just plaster BUDWEISER stickers on the outside of the shuttle. :)
Posted by infidel_us at 12:39 PM : Jul 27, 2007
____________________

Yeah, MicroSoft could pay billions to plaster their name on an inter-galactic space ship, creating new business for them in other galaxies, and Gates could regain his position as the richest man in the 'universe.'

[dumbfounded5]

Boy, I thought they were supposed to be incredibly intelligent people come to find out they're just space drunk drivers... Hmmmmm

[down-ndirty]

not to forget Tang, velcro and space food sticks
Posted by koko98 at 02:17 PM : Jul 27, 2007
____________________

Velcro was invented in 1941. Is the space program THAT old?

[down-ndirty]

The money would be of better use here on earth.
Posted by erasmus6 at 01:14 PM : Jul 27, 2007
______________

It's not your space program; it's not your tax dollars; and it's not your country.

So why would you care?

[slim1h2o]

Posted by koko98 at 02:17 PM : Jul 27, 2007


Forgot about them:)

[slim1h2o]

Posted by erasmus6 at 01:14 PM : Jul 27, 2007
Well,..We did get Teflon out of the deal,. LOL

[erasmus6]

I have always been in favor of the space program but I am beginning to wonder what the purpose of it is. I mean really, there are people who are homeless and starving to death. Also the U.S. must be getting lower and lower on money with the war and stuff.

They say that they do experiments in space on different heath issues and stuff but really that isn't doing us much good on earth.It is only relative to space.

In some ways the space program has come a long ways. They now have a space station but what is the point? It will take years and years and years before they will be able to send anyone anywhere else. And what is the point anyways? The money would be of better use here on earth.

[usawarrior]

Perhaps... Well... Maybe they did not inhale.

[infidel_us]

Thats why I invented my new "electromagnetic field generator" that simulates the earth's magnetic field to protect ya from the sun like a force field. So what if it turns people into fish? Minor technicality..
Posted by donnie900 at 09:10 AM : Jul 27, 2007

Perhaps if you add my "flux capacitor", it would straighten that out. LOL

[infidel_us]

Maybe NASA should do like they do in NASCAR....just plaster BUDWEISER stickers on the outside of the shuttle. :)

[SIDNEYWILLIAMSMD]

OUTRAGEOUS: Instead of trying to figure out why Gonzales fired 8 republican attorneys, Congress should demand the resignation of head of NASA, and get a sqeaky clean administrator, clean up the Astronauts Corp, fire however many of these pampered privileged astronauts. Who do they think they are? Members of the NFL?

[donnie900]

Ever suck a coffee thru a straw? Its zero-g, see.. All yaz need is one drink.

[mike71067]

Let's see - the 1960's was the decade of Hendrix, Pink Floyd, etc. Why are we shocked that some NASA personnel may have orbited the earth while intoxicated?

Heck, sometimes I need to have a couple of vodka martinis just to tolerate driving on the beltway.