NASA responds to claims of drinking problem

An independent panel was told that intoxicated NASA astronauts were allowed to fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and cleared to fly on the space shuttle, the panel's chairman said Friday.

In response, NASA said it is launching an investigation to try to verify the allegations, will embrace an astronaut code of conduct and would weigh changes in its drinking policies.

The two specific allegations about alcohol use were contained in the independent panel's report, released Friday. Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who chaired the panel, provided additional details during a NASA news briefing in Washington.

Speaking over a telephone link, Bachmann said the Soyuz case involved a NASA astronaut who was cleared for launch to the international space station, even though there was a concern that the astronaut's alcohol consumption raised a flight risk. In the case involving the shuttle, Bachmann said the mission was delayed for mechanical reasons and the astronaut wanted to fly a jet from Florida back home to Houston. A fellow astronaut voiced concern about the flier's alcohol use, Bachmann said. He said he didn’t know the outcome.

Bachmann said the incidents were representative of the kinds of reports he and other panel members heard about alcohol use in the astronaut corps. He stressed, however, that his panel did not independently verify the accounts given by flight surgeons and astronauts.

“In none of these can we say factually they did or did not occur,” he said. Bachmann said it was not the panel’s mission to investigate allegations, and that NASA would have to ferret out the details.

The independent panel was created by NASA to assess its health screening after the high-profile arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February after she drove across the country to confront a romantic rival.

The internal review focused on the issue of psychological screening of astronauts, and specifically on Nowak's case. The independent panel also dealt with screening procedures but did not refer by name to Nowak or any other astronaut.

The drinking allegations were a new humiliation for the space agency. Headline writers in newspapers and on the Web had as much fun as they did with the arrest of Nowak.

“Sauced in Space.” “NASA: Shaken and Stirred.” “Three-Martini Launch.” “Houston, we have a drinking problem.” The New York Post incorporated two giant bottles of Grey Goose vodka into a photo of the space shuttle.

NASA’s top managers said they were unaware of any astronauts who were drunk before a flight but promised to investigate further.

"We will act immediately on the more troubling aspects of this report," NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said during Friday's briefing. Bryan O'Connor, NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, was in charge of the investigation, she said.

Bachmann said he was "very glad to hear" that NASA was taking action.

NASA has long had a policy that prohibits any drinking in the 12 hours before an astronaut flies a training jet. The space agency said that policy has historically been applied to spaceflights, too. But as a result of the panel’s report, the rule will officially be applied to spaceflights, NASA said. An astronaut code of conduct also is in the works.

Dale said the commander of the next space shuttle mission, set for launch Aug. 7, has already met with O'Connor to discuss the allegations and the behavior expectations for the upcoming flight. Both commander Scott Kelly and the crew’s flight surgeon were encouraged to raise any safety issues, Dale said.

Bachmann, an aerospace medical specialist with the Air Force, said his panel deliberately did not seek out pertinent details on alcohol use, such as exactly when the heavy drinking occurred. The overriding concern, he said, was that flight surgeons were ignored.

"There’s certainly no intent to impugn the entire astronaut corps," Bachmann said. "We don’t have enough data to call it alcohol abuse. 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’re the tip of a very large iceberg."

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