[NYTr] Drunk Drivers in Space and Other NASA Problems

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Here's a round-up of the weekend news about NASA, its drinking
astronauts and its many other problems. -NYTr]


Discovery Channel News - Jul 30, 2007
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/07/30/astronautscandal_spa.html?category=space&guid=20070730113000&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

After Drunk Claims, Pre-Launch Scrutiny

by Irene Klotz

July 30, 2007 — Among the checks NASA will be making before shuttle
Endeavour is cleared for launch next week is whether its seven-member
crew is sober.

Though the query seems more appropriate for a television comedy skit, a
highly regarded group of experts felt anecdotes of inebriated
astronauts convincing enough to urge the U.S. space agency to mount an
in-depth investigation. The scandal is the latest example of what has
been described as a problem in culture at NASA, where concerns from
lower-level personnel are dismissed or disregarded.

NASA, itself, convened the panel after the surrealistic arrest of
astronaut Lisa Nowak, a seemingly mild-mannered, quiet woman who
apparently lost it after her former flame and fellow astronaut took up
with another woman. Nowak faces assault and battery charges for
allegedly attacking the girlfriend during a creepy, late-night
encounter in a parking lot at the Orlando airport.

In the course of their investigation, the panel found all was not well
in the hallowed halls of the elite astronaut corps.

NASA immediately dispatched its top safety officer to Houston to put
Endeavour commander Scott Kelly and the mission’s lead flight surgeons
on notice.

"They are aware of our expectations regarding alcohol, their
responsibility for flight safety, their authority and responsibility to
stop the mission if there is impairment of any kind for any reason of a
crew member. They understand the medical authority of the flight
surgeon," said former astronaut Ellen Ochoa, who now oversees flight
crew operations for NASA.

The panel, itself, did not investigate the two most compelling claims
of astronauts flying drunk, nor even ascertain their truthfulness.
Under promise of anonymity, astronauts and some astronaut family
members told panel members of the alleged incidents.

"We have no way of knowing if these are the only two incidents that
have ever occurred in the history of the astronaut corps or if they are
the tip of a very large iceberg," said panel chairman Richard Bachmann,
the commander and dean of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace
Medicine.

"Although the astronaut and family members interviewed did not
represent a random or exhaustive sample of the larger population, the
issues they raised were remarkably consistent and compelling and
deserved focused action," he added.

The immediate issue — and the reason for public notice of the
allegations — was the apparent disregard with which NASA addressed
flights surgeons' and crew members' concerns.

"They described instances where medical personnel or fellow astronauts
raised concerns about an astronaut's fitness for flight due to alcohol
use in the immediate preflight period, and these concerns appeared to
them to be disregarded or overridden," Bachmann said. "They were
demoralized by that disregard to the point that they felt like they
would be less likely to report concerns or performance decrement in the
future."

"Whether they did or did not occur is almost beside the point," he
added. advertisement
line

The dismissal of safety concerns is not a new issue for NASA. Both of
its fatal accidents, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, were
partly blamed on management glossing over seemingly mundane technical
issues raised by lower-level personnel.

"You only have to read the report to know that something clearly seems
to be broken in NASA's system of astronaut oversight," said U.S. Rep.
Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat who chairs a NASA oversight
committee. "I hope the agency will take the review team seriously, and
not just fall back on the tired bromide that the review team's findings
are 'unproven allegations.'"

Deputy administrator Shana Dale said the agency is moving immediately
to investigate the specific claims of alcohol abuse as well as taking
steps to assure any future concerns regarding flight crew personnel are
taken seriously.

"We want people to feel that this is an open culture where they can do
so without fear of retaliation," she said.

Copyright © 2007 Discovery Communications

                            ***

About.com news - Jul 30, 2007
http://space.about.com/b/a/256934.htm

Houston, We Have a Drinking Problem

By Nick Greene

By now, you have probably heard all about a recent report in Aviation
Week and Space Technology magazine concerning allegations of astronauts
being allowed to fly while intoxicated. CNN and MSNBC have both covered
it as well as hundreds of other news outlets. The Russians deny that
astronauts could have flown drunk aboard Soyuz spacecraft, according to
MSNBC, but admit that cosmonauts aboard MIR were allowed to imbibe
"moderately."

If these stories are true, it's a serious problem. Drinking in the
workplace does occur, according to About.com's Guide to Alcoholism and
Substance Abuse, Buddy T. Buddy quotes an Alcohol Alert From NIAAA,
"Alcohol and the Workplace" as saying that "productivity losses
attributed to alcohol were estimated at $119 billion for 1995."

While all drinking has a potential for being dangerous, especially in a
hazardous work environment, few job sites are more dangerous places to
drink than space. In a space shuttle flight, it's not just the pilot
that must be in peak condition, but everyone else as well. Disasters do
occur, as we learned from the Apollo 1, Apollo 13 and the shuttles
Challenger and Columbia and the crew must be able to respond
immediately.

NASA says they are "moving forward to implement many of the
recommendations" contained in two studies released Friday about
astronaut health and behavioral assessments. With the launch of
Endeavour planned for the 7th, NASA has already had discussions with
its crew commander and flight surgeon concerning the allegations in the
report and NASA's expectations of alcohol use and getting into a
spacecraft.

NASA continues to investigate the issue. 

                                ***

Al Jazeera - Jul 26, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/369F5EF0-8ED7-4E9B-81DD-E0601635BC07.htm

Nasa shaken by alcohol and sabotage  
	 	
The American space agency has been shaken by reports of drunk
astronauts and an employee sabotaging a computer meant for the
international space station. The reports which broke within hours of
each other on Thursday were the latest jolts in a rocky year for Nasa,
which began with the arrest of an astronaut accused of attacking a love
rival. Aviation Week & Space Technology reported on its website that a
special panel studying astronaut health found that on two occasions,
astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other
astronauts warned that they were so drunk they posed a safety risk. 

The independent panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch,
the magazine reported, although that drinking did not contravene the
standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule.

A Nasa official confirmed the report contained such details, but said
they were from anonymous interviews and not substantiated. Nasa is to
discuss the health report on Friday.

The Aviation Week story did not say how long ago the alleged incidents
took place, nor did it say whether it involved pilots or other crew
members.

At a news conference to discuss the forthcoming launch of space shuttle
Endeavour set for August 7, Nasa's space operations chief was asked
repeatedly about the drunken astronaut report.

Bill Gerstenmaier would only say that he had never seen an intoxicated
astronaut before flight or been involved in any disciplinary action
related to that.

Sabotage

But he had other bad news, revealing that an employee for a Nasa
subcontractor had cut the wires in a computer that was about to be
loaded on to the shuttle Endeavour.

The subcontractor, which he would not name, contacted Nasa as soon as
it learnt that another computer had been damaged deliberately,
Gerstenmaier said.

Had the contractor not discovered the problem, Nasa would have
uncovered it by testing the computer before launch, he said, adding
that safety was not an issue.

Nasa hopes to fix the computer in time for the launch and also that it
will be the last surprise or problem to crop up.

The independent panel reviewing astronaut health and Nasa's
psychological screening process was created following the arrest in
February of former space shuttle flier Lisa Nowak.

Nowak is accused of attacking the girlfriend of a fellow astronaut –
her romantic rival - with pepper spray in a parking lot at Orlando
airport.

She was fired in March but has pleaded not guilty to charges of
attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.

The scandal was followed by a freak hailstorm that tore into a space
shuttle on the launchpad that set back the year's flight schedule.

There was also a shooting at Johnson Space Centre in Houston by an
employee who eventually killed himself. 

Source: Agencies