NASA on the rocks

Following the arrest in February of astronaut Lisa Nowak, a panel was set up to investigate astronaut behavior. When the panel's report was released last week, it cited heavy use of alcohol by astronoauts, including two occasions on which astronauts were cleared for flight despite the warnings of flight surgeons, according to numerous sources.

According to the report: “Alcohol is freely used in crew quarters. Two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on-scene leadership regarding flight safety. However, the individuals were still permitted to fly.”

On one of the occasions, the shuttle flight was cancelled for mechanical reasons, so the astronaut did not fly. The other occasion was a flight aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz, on which the astronaut did fly.

The Russian Space agency denies that the Soyuz event could have occurred, according to a recent Associated Press report.

“We categorically deny the possibility that this could have happened at Baikonur,” said Igor Panarin, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency. “In the days at Baikonur before the launch, this is absolutely impossible. They are constantly watched by medics and psychiatrists.”

The astronauts were not named, and NASA has promised to investigate further.

sabotage

A computer scheduled to be flown to the International Space Station was found sabotaged last week, according to an Associated Press report.

The computer, manufactured by Invocon Inc., of Conroe, Texas, was discovered to have had wires inside it cut after an identical unit was also discovered by Invocon to have had its wires cut as well.

The damage to the computer does not seem to pose a safety risk, as the computer was slated to collect data from strain gages on a beam outside the ISS.

As yet, neither suspects nor possible motives have been identified.