[FPSPACE] More on NASA woes...."dangerously drunk" astronauts flew on mission

[pjp]

Here is another news outlet with the drunk astronaut story:

 

>From Agency France Presse

 

Astronauts flew while dangerously drunk: report

 

[It's Aviation Week that they are sourcing]

 

Astronauts were allowed to fly spacecraft after their colleagues and flight
surgeons warned they were so drunk they posed a flight-safety risk, a trade
magazine reported Thursday, citing an internal NASA panel.

The panel also reported "heavy use of alcohol" within the standard 12-hour
"bottle to throttle" abstinence rule applied to NASA flight crew members,
Aviation Week Space Technology said.

A NASA spokesperson was not immediately available for comment, but the
weekly magazine said a press conference detailing the results was scheduled
for Friday afternoon.

The panel was set up to review astronaut health after astronaut Lisa Nowak
was arrested and charged with trying to kidnap a woman who was dating
another astronaut.

The panel found that drunk astronauts were allowed to fly on "at least two
occasions," the magazine reported, without saying on which missions the
incidents took place.

It did not specifically discuss Nowak.

NASA is also reviewing its intake and on-going psychological screening for
astronaut candidates and astronauts.