US astronauts flew while dangerously drunk

[Anubis10012007]

Report says NASA let astronauts fly drunk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) - Despite safety warnings from NASA doctors, astronauts were allowed to fly after drinking heavily, an independent panel said in a report released Friday.

The report said it happened twice, but 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 jets.
NASA officials let them fly even after flight surgeons and fellow astronauts raised concerns that flight safety might be jeopardized, according to the report. The panel, which prepared the report, was created by NASA after the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February on charges she tried to kidnap her rival in a love triangle.

In a statement Friday, NASA said that it is unaware of any astronauts who were drunk before a flight but that it is investigating. It said the panel failed to give the space agency any details of the allegations.

NASA has long had a policy that prohibited any drinking in the 12 hours before an astronaut flies a training jet. As a result of the panel's report, the space agency said the policy will be applied to spaceflights, too.

The panel said that astronauts and flight surgeons told the committee about heavy drinking by crew members just before flights. Also, the panel said alcohol is freely used in the crew quarters, where astronauts are quarantined at the Kennedy Space Center in the three days before launch.
Only four paragraphs of the 12-page report dealt with alcohol use by astronauts.

Two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and-or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on-scene leadership regarding flight safety,» the panel. «However, the individuals were still permitted to fly.

The eight-member panel included experts in aerospace medicine and medical legal matters, and clinical psychiatrists.
The panel said that NASA is not set up in such a way to deal with alcohol use by astronauts.

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,» the panel wrote.

The panel recommended that NASA hold individuals and supervisors accountable for responsible use of alcohol, and that policies be instituted involving drinking before flight.

In another finding, the panel reported that flight surgeons' medical opinions were not valued by higher-ups. Several senior flight surgeons told the panel that officials only wanted to hear that all medical systems «were `go' for on-time mission completion.

The flight surgeons told the panel that higher-ups in NASA were notified of «major crew medical or behavioral problems,» but that the flight surgeons' medical advice was ignored.

This disregard was described as 'demoralizing' to the point where they said they are less likely to report concerns of performance decrement,» the panel wrote. «Crew members raised concerns regarding substandard astronaut task performance which were similarly disregarded.

Fourteen astronauts, all but one with spaceflight experience, were interviewed by the panel, as well as five family members. All volunteered to take part in the review. In addition, eight flight surgeons were interviewed.

Anubis10012007 Reviewed by Anubis10012007 on 07-27-2007. US astronauts flew while dangerously drunk Report says NASA let astronauts fly drunk CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) - Despite safety warnings from NASA doctors, astronauts were allowed to fly after drinking heavily, an independent panel said in a report released Friday. The report said it happened twice, but 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 jets. NASA officials let them Rating: 5

[4twentE]

I saw that story on the news last night. My thoughts: so what? They're flying a rocket into space. Not like they have to stay between the lines. Not like they're going to miss their target. Not like there aren't hundreds of sober people in the control center who can fly the shuttle into space by remote control. What are NASA's guidelines for "dangerously drunk" anyway? Probably the same ones that say smoking a joint makes you too high to drive a car. There was one lady on FOX News (bad news source in the first place) who was talking about NASA's 12 hours from Bottle to Throttle regulations. She said it should be 12 days. 12 days?!?! Fuck you. If I got to go out into space, I'd get totally hammered in celebration the night before the launch.

[Anubis10012007]

haha....being drunk is stupid anyway. GET HIGH AND FLY!!!

[jdub61]

lol, only in america... wonder if they got pulled over for DUI

[stinkyattic]

And I thought I was stupid for drinking and riding my Ninja... that's just a new LEVEL of stupid.
Yup, there's plenty of redundancy built into space flights so a single drunk pilot isn't necessarily going to crash the space ship, BUT you have to remember that we are paying their astronomical (hee hee) salaries with our damn TAXES, and those asses are drunk on the job. VERY uncool. I've seen DISHWASHERS get fired for less, lol.
Lastly, can you even IMAGINE how awful it would be to be hung over in zero gravity, or during the liftoff? All those Gs and a headache, too. Pass the yak sak, please?

[LuckyG]

In all honesty, everything is computerized and remote-controlled, but I am still very nervous about astronauts being drunk on the job. It's not like they're in shipping or retail - they're flying a fecking spaceship.

[slipknotpsycho]

when i saw this, i wondered what it'd be like to puke in space.... lol...

"houston we have....uh.....a problem... bob spewed all over our electrical equipment, and it's shot now...."

[ghosty]

^ LOL

[psteve]

They SHOULD be able to fly drunk, and they should prove it BEFORE we let them go into space.
If they get sick, the effects could be a lot like being drunk, and if they can handle their liquor while flying, they're that much more likely to survive in space.

[Anubis10012007]

Its the fact that the people who do this job are well trained and educated people that are supposed to be American role models. This is why it is upsetting to some because our tax money funds this and they were drunk on the job. IMO, it is no different than me coming to work drunk.

They should definitely be disciplined.