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Nature news article
Published online: 27 July 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070723-12
Dark days for NASA
Space agency hit by claims of theft, sabotage and drunkenness.
Daniel Cressey
NASA
NASA's reputation took a battering this week as the space agency's staff faced a range of misconduct allegations, including allowing astronauts to fly when drunk, the deliberate sabotage of a computer for a forthcoming shuttle flight, and failing to stop the loss of equipment worth nearly $100 million.
A new internal report produced by NASA reveals that astronauts have been allowed to fly when drunk. Information released ahead of the report's official unveiling, scheduled for the afternoon of 27 July, indicates that it will confirm that crew members were allowed to fly even though they were drunk enough to be a safety risk.
It was not immediately clear whether the flights involved the space shuttle programme or other launches, or exactly when the incidents in question occurred. But commentators have expressed amazement and dismay at the prospect that any astronauts could have flown while drunk.
The report was apparently commissioned in the wake of another embarrassing episode for NASA — the arrest in February of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was later charged with the attempted kidnapping of an alleged rival for the affections of a former colleague.
....
Dark days for NASA
Space agency hit by claims of theft, sabotage and drunkenness.
Daniel Cressey
NASA
NASA's reputation took a battering this week as the space agency's staff faced a range of misconduct allegations, including allowing astronauts to fly when drunk, the deliberate sabotage of a computer for a forthcoming shuttle flight, and failing to stop the loss of equipment worth nearly $100 million.
A new internal report produced by NASA reveals that astronauts have been allowed to fly when drunk. Information released ahead of the report's official unveiling, scheduled for the afternoon of 27 July, indicates that it will confirm that crew members were allowed to fly even though they were drunk enough to be a safety risk.
It was not immediately clear whether the flights involved the space shuttle programme or other launches, or exactly when the incidents in question occurred. But commentators have expressed amazement and dismay at the prospect that any astronauts could have flown while drunk.
The report was apparently commissioned in the wake of another embarrassing episode for NASA — the arrest in February of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was later charged with the attempted kidnapping of an alleged rival for the affections of a former colleague.
....