Report Says Astronauts Flew Drunk

Source: New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 27, 2007

Filed at 1:39 p.m. ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (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 safety might be jeopardized, according to the report, done by a panel 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.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Astronaut-Drinking.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Maybe the story refers to them flying high as in as high as a kite

I'd have to be blitzed.

n/t

Especially considering how many problems they've had lately with shuttles exploding or being grounded.

Ranger Three, do you read? Ranger three... Captain Rogers, COME IN, dammit!

And so am I by recognizing that photo :rofl:

going on. They are sequestered 17 days before take-off in a very sterile environment. Says it's news to him..!!!

:shrug:

I remember this kid I went to school with. Danny. Bright guy. Loved Estes model rockets. Efficient and no-nonsense. Years later when I learned he worked for NASA, I wasn't surprised. NASA seemed to attract all our best and brightest, and Danny was certainly a natural fit. I always wondered whatever ever became of Danny, but even more so, I wonder what became of NASA itself?

If there was ever an organization that had the power to command our continuing respect and awe, it would be NASA, the one governmental agency that seemed to represent all the best forward-looking impulses of man. When you were young, how many times did you hear parents or teachers say, "why, you can become anything, if you set your mind to it, even the president or an astronaut!"

But my, how things change. Given some of the more recent occupants, aspiring to be president hardly seems noble any more, and becoming an astronaut now puts you in the company of tawdry, murderous love triangles and drunkards.

Not that I'm condemning NASA as a whole, however, but it makes me wonder ... whatever became of people who seemed more, well, noble and representative of what's best in us? People like Danny.

...not at NASA, but just in the world in general, quit in disgust years ago.

It's no coincidence that the first shuttle went down under Reagan- and the second one under Bush.

Has to do with political interference with administration and management at NASA. There's actually a classic public administration article on point.

in aerospace before - he was a political crony of Reagan.

The NYTimes is turning into a rag printing junk!

I don't believe this for one minute. I personally know an astronaut trainee who knows most all the crews and he says this is bullshit.

My .02 over and out.

Soyuz, shuttle cited in drinking reports

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After drinking heavily, an astronaut flew on a Russian spacecraft and another was cleared to launch on a space shuttle, according to interviews by a panel of outside experts, the panel's chairman said Friday.

n the case of the shuttle, the mission was delayed for mechanical reasons and the astronaut wanted to fly a jet from Florida back home to Houston, said Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., head of the panel, created to assess astronaut health. He said he didn't know the outcome.

"In none of these can we say factually they did or did not occur," he added, speaking by telephone to a news conference held in Washington. He said it was not the panel's mission to investigate allegations and that NASA would have to ferret out details.

The independent panel 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.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070727/ap_on_re_us/astronaut_drinking

pnorman

:sarcasm: