In This Article
Subscribe to Technology UpdatesUnder-the-Influence Astronauts Add to NASA's Woes
July 27, 2007 11:23 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Boozing spacemen join a female astronaut accused of attempted kidnapping, a sabotaged computer and $94 million of missing equipment in the agency’s lengthening list of troubles.
30-Second Summary
Two astronauts were allowed to fly less than 12 hours after drinking alcohol, a NASA panel has revealed.
The panel’s report states that “astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concern,” but those warnings went unheeded.
The discovery that crew members may have been under the influence at take-off in separate incidents was made during an investigation into the health and behavior of NASA personnel. The inquiry followed an incident in February this year in which astronaut Lisa Nowak assaulted a female colleague with pepper spray.
Nowak’s arrest raised questions about how her apparent mental instability escaped the notice of flight surgeons.
The latest report will do little to improve the space administration’s image, especially in the light of other revelations this week.
On July 25, congressional findings showed that NASA is missing $94 million in equipment.
In addition, a computer intended for installation on the International Space Station was sabotaged by a worker at a subcontractor.
Investigators looking into the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in 2003 concluded that the agency’s managerial culture was a contributory factor in that accident. The implication of the more recent stories is that NASA is still troubled by a lack of oversight.
The panel’s report states that “astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concern,” but those warnings went unheeded.
The discovery that crew members may have been under the influence at take-off in separate incidents was made during an investigation into the health and behavior of NASA personnel. The inquiry followed an incident in February this year in which astronaut Lisa Nowak assaulted a female colleague with pepper spray.
Nowak’s arrest raised questions about how her apparent mental instability escaped the notice of flight surgeons.
The latest report will do little to improve the space administration’s image, especially in the light of other revelations this week.
On July 25, congressional findings showed that NASA is missing $94 million in equipment.
In addition, a computer intended for installation on the International Space Station was sabotaged by a worker at a subcontractor.
Investigators looking into the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in 2003 concluded that the agency’s managerial culture was a contributory factor in that accident. The implication of the more recent stories is that NASA is still troubled by a lack of oversight.
Headline Links: Boozing crew members and multimillion-dollar losses
The drinking incidents occurred on separate missions, one on the shuttle, the other involving a crew member on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Associated Press writes that four years ago, after the Columbia disaster, “experts urged NASA to repair a flawed safety culture that squelched warnings from lower-level employees." That problem appears to have recurred as the personnel who drew attention to the their colleagues' drinking had their concerns overruled.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
NASA has lost $94 million in computer equipment, according to a congressional report published July 25. “These problems are deeply rooted in an agency culture that does not demand accountability,” the Government Accountability Office stated. One unidentified employee unable to produce a laptop assigned to him told his employers that the computer had been taken into space, failed, and was thrown out of the space craft to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Source: The New York Times
Reactions: Russians reject NASA's report
The July 27th report made by NASA has not played out well in Russia, which has denied accusations that a crew member on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft flew while under the influence. Russian newspapers bridled at the perceived smear, according to The Associated Press. One journalist complained that in the 1998 movie “Armageddon” Hollywood portrayed a Russian cosmonaut as an “unshaven boozehound.” Moskovsky Komsomlets wrote, “After this news the Americans should be ashamed to rewatch the blockbuster.”
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Background: Nowak, Columbia, and the astronaut's life
In February 2007, NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested and accused of attempting to assault and kidnap a female colleague. Allegedly, both women were involved with the same man, and Nowak drove 900 miles in disguise to confront her rival. In her car, she took with her a number of suspicious items, including a knife, a mallet and a length of rubber tubing.
Source: MSNBC
The Columbia Space Shuttle exploded on re-entry on February 1, 2003. The cause was a chunk of foam that broke away during lift-off and made a breach in the shuttle’s wing, allowing hot gas to enter the space craft when returning to Earth. A report into the incident identified “politics, budgets, schedule pressure and managerial complacency” as contributory factors in the accident.
Source: Space.com
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step on the Moon, is one of several astronauts to have experienced drinking problems, as several news reports on NASA’s recent travails pointed out. Aldrin's struggles and those of other prominent astronauts, and the cultural and historical significance of America’s exploration of space, are addressed in this Business Week review of Andrew Smith’s book "Moondust."
Source: Business Week
Opinion: NASA's management culture
“NASA has had a history of ignoring indications that something is wrong,” said Douglas Osheroff, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Osheroff investigated the Columbia space shuttle disaster of 2003. He concluded that the pressure to launch on time means that senior management at the space agency often ignore the warnings of those lower down in the hierarchy, such as engineers and flight surgeons. According to The Associated Press, this is a cultural problem that dates back to the seat-of-your-pants mentality fostered in NASA’s early days.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Reference Material: The astronaut health review
NASA “is moving forward to implement many of the recommendations contained in two studies released Friday about astronaut health and behavior assessments,” according to the administration press release. The health reviews that followed the Nowak incident are accessible on the NASA Web site.
Source: NASA
Related Links: NASA's Future
Though the current generation of space shuttles will be retired in 2010, the space craft that will succeed them will operate on the same principle, launching a reusable manned vehicle on the back of disposable rockets that are jettisoned on take-off. Vehicles like this will propel NASA’s missions to the Moon and beyond, according to Brian Berger of Space.com.
Source: Space.com
NASA intends to return to the Moon to set up a permanent space station there, on the southern lunar pole. According to NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, the “outpost on the moon” will be a “critical milestone in America’s quest to become a truly spacefaring nation.”
Source: NASA
NASA envisions building a lunar station on the south pole of the Moon by 2020. The head of lunar exploration, Scott Horowitz, said, “The lunar base will be a central theme in our going forward plan for going back to the Moon in preparation to go to Mars and beyond.”
Source: The Washington Post
Mike Griffin, the head of NASA, is “relentlessly optimistic,” writes Discover magazine. He intends the Ares rockets currently being tested to carry a U.S. crew to Mars sometime around 2020. Others are more skeptical of his chances. It’s not technical issues that promise to scupper the plan, but simple economics, “thanks to what may prove to be a trillion-dollar price tag.”
Source: Discover Magazine
© 2010 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
