Alcohol claims go flat at NASA
Posted: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:36 PM by Alan Boyle
Insiders tell NBC News that NASA has found nothing in the past 20 years of spaceflight to back up last month's allegations that some astronauts used alcohol heavily just before flight - and one space pioneer says many of his colleagues are "pissed off" over what the original report has done to the reputation of the astronaut corps.
The space agency's safety chief, Bryan O'Connor, is due to release the results of his internal investigation into the alcohol claims at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday - then discuss those results at a 1:30 p.m. ET news conference that will be broadcast on NASA TV.
O'Connor's probe was sparked by an independent panel's claims of "heavy alcohol use" among astronauts before flight, which were contained in a wider report about shortcomings in NASA's medical screening procedures (PDF file). The independent panel was chaired by Air Force Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., and included medical and legal experts from other federal agencies.
NBC News' Jay Barbree passed along a preview of O'Connor's follow-up report today, based on interviews with knowledgeable sources who could not speak publicly because they lacked official authorization to do so:
"Former astronaut Bryan O'Connor, NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, is set to tell a press conference tomorrow his investigation into allegations of improper alcohol use by astronauts found nothing.
"O'Connor sifted through the last 20 years of spaceflight and was unable to verify any of the drunken reports made by the NASA Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee stemming from astronaut Lisa Nowak's stalking and attacking a romantic rival during the unraveling of a love triangle with a fellow astronaut.
"The committee had reported rumors that some astronauts were allowed to fly intoxicated.
"O'Connor will say his investigation was unable to verify any of the rumors astronauts were drunk.
"Those involved with readying astronauts for flight say that, because of the many hours astronauts are under direct scrutiny and live television cameras before flight, it is most unlikely any astronaut could fly drunk.
"O'Connor's investigation suggests that if any astronaut ever boarded a spaceship intoxicated, it was a masterful deception and certainly a rarity."
Barbree told me that O'Connor's report could not absolutely deny astronauts used alcohol in the crucial hours before flight - only that no evidence could be found to back up the claims in the independent panel's report. Those claims were based on interviews with astronauts and flight surgeons, but the panel said it wasn't in a position to verify whether the claims were true.
The tales of drunken astronauts have sparked much levity on late-night talk shows and in editorial cartoons - but agency officials, lawmakers and the astronauts themselves aren't laughing. The House Science and Technology Committee has scheduled hearings on the issue as early as next week.
Before this month's flight of the shuttle Endeavour, mission commander Scott Kelly wrote a letter saying the idea of drinking before driving a spaceship was "utterly ridiculous":
"It is beyond my comprehension that anyone in the astronaut office would consider doing what is suggested in this report and exaggerated in the press - showing up on launch day under the influence of alcohol. This is serious business and we take it as such."
But Kelly's publicly expressed ire was nothing in comparison to the disbelief and outrage that Apollo 12 moonwalker Alan Bean expressed during an interview with me on Monday.
Most of our conversation was focused on the good old days depicted in an upcoming documentary, "In the Shadow of the Moon." Bean confirmed my initial impression that he was an "aw-shucks" kind of guy, more interested in his art than the ins and outs of space policy. But when the topic turned to NASA's image as it looks toward future exploration, Bean couldn't resist addressing a topic that was clearly close to his heart - and his gut:
"My hat’s off to NASA, it’s a good agency. And boy, one of the things that’s pissed me off lately has been this talk about astronauts drinking and flying with drink. I was in there 18 years, OK? I heard all the rumors.
"First of all, I never saw anything like that, ever. Never heard it even as a rumor. Whoever that guy is that was in charge of that group that released that information, which I think is wrong and a lie … he’s got to be held accountable for this kind of embarrassment – letting people on late-night TV make fun of these astronauts who are so dedicated.
"No astronaut would put up with that. Nobody would say, 'Oh, you've been drinking, huh? That’s OK. We're headed up there, our lives depend on it. But what the heck.' They would say, 'You've been drinking? We’re not going, and you’re not coming to work ever again here. You’re out of here, we’ll never see your ass again!' Nobody would put up with it.
"Every astronaut I've talked to has been pissed off about this. And not a single one of them would put up with it for one second. This is a terrible hurt to those people up there now. ..."
You can hear the hurt in Bean's voice in this audio clip, which includes the above excerpt and a little bit more.
He urged NASA to fight back vigorously to protect the image of the agency and its astronauts. "I don't think that when you're defending the people who work for you, you have to be politically correct. I think it's just the opposite," he said.
The exchange made clear that Alan Bean isn't just an "aw-shucks" guy who happened to find himself on the moon 38 years ago. He's someone who speaks his mind and lets the chips fall where they may.
"Now you know why I'm an artist," he said finally. "I wouldn’t have put up with that for 10 seconds."
