NASA trouble: Report of drunk astronauts and sabotaged computer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At least twice, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a flight-safety risk, an aviation weekly reported Thursday, citing a special panel studying astronaut health.
The independent panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch that was within the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology, which reported the findings on its Web site.
A NASA official confirmed the health report contains claims of alcohol use by astronauts before launch, but said the information is based on anonymous interviews and is unsubstantiated. The official didn't want to be named because NASA plans a news conference today to discuss the panel's findings.
Meanwhile, it was learned Thursday that NASA is investigating sabotage of a noncritical computer due to be flown to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, which was cleared to lift off on Aug. 7.
The damage to wiring in an electronics box was intentional and obvious, NASA said. Cables were cut inside the electronics box, which was being prepared to be loaded into Endeavour's crew cabin for transport to the $100 billion space station.
NASA managers believe there is ample time to repair the computer before Endeavour's liftoff. The shuttle is scheduled to spend up to 10 days at the space station to install a new structural beam and deliver supplies.
On the subject of alcohol and astronauts, the panel was created after the arrest in February of former space shuttle flier Lisa Nowak, who was implicated in a love triangle.
NASA's space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said Thursday it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the matter before the report is released today.
In Washington, the chairman of the House Science and Technology committee said he hadn't seen the report, "but if the reports of drunken astronauts being allowed to fly prove to be true, I think the agency will have a lot of explaining to do."
"That's not the 'right stuff' as far as I'm concerned," said Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat.
The Aviation Week report doesn't make clear when the alleged incidents occurred, nor does it say whether the intoxication involved crew members who have no role in flying the shuttle or whether it was the pilot and commander.
NASA plans to release findings of a pair of reviews -- one by the outside committee and the other by an internal panel -- into astronauts' health today.
The independent panel's NASA consultant and its eight members, which include Air Force experts in aerospace medicine and clinical psychiatry, did not immediately return phone messages or e-mails from the Associated Press Thursday.
Aviation Week said the report citing drunkenness does not deal directly with Nowak or mention any other astronaut by name.
Nowak is accused of attacking the girlfriend of a fellow astronaut -- her romantic rival -- with pepper spray in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport. Fired by NASA in March, she has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.