By DPA
Washington : NASA administrators have said they could find no evidence that astronauts had flown drunk, despite accusations that had arisen in an independent report last month.
An internal review by the space agency found no evidence of cases in the past 20 years when astronauts were allowed to launch despite protests from flight surgeons or other officials, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said at a press conference Wednesday.
“I have said many times during the past weeks that NASA takes these allegations very seriously – just as we would any issues that could impact the safety of our missions,” Griffin said. “But at the same time, I also have said that the stories cited in the report seem improbable to those of us familiar with the astronauts’ rigorous and very public activities during the hours leading up to a space flight.”
Griffin said the investigation looked for evidence to confirm the allegations, adding, “we’ve done that, we can’t find it.”
Despite the lack of evidence, the report by Bryan O’Connor, from the agency’s office of safety and mission assurance, recommended NASA consider implementing an alcohol testing programme for astronauts and that flight surgeons be present while the crew suits up for launch.
It also recommended including alcohol abuse in a list of high-risk behaviours for astronauts and implementing a policy on alcohol in crew quarters.
NASA launched the investigation into the matter after an earlier independent report on the space agency’s health services, released in the wake of a scandal in which astronaut Lisa Nowak allegedly attacked a romantic rival for a fellow astronaut’s affections.
That report in July said investigators had heard reports of two incidences of intoxicated astronauts being allowed to fly. It said the accounts had not been verified and left it to NASA to look into the matter and take action.
O’Connor interviewed about 90 employees involved with launch activities on every mission for two decades, including nearly 80 percent of the astronaut corps. He also reviewed more than 40,000 documents related to flights, including anonymous safety reports and disciplinary action related to drugs and alcohol, before concluding the events described in the earlier report did not happen.
To investigate the specific allegations, O’Connor narrowed down flights that met the descriptions provided in July’s review, but interviews with crewmembers and medical personnel on those flights were unable to uncover any evidence that any astronauts had been drunk shortly before launch.
“I cannot say such events have never happened; I just was unable to verify that they did happen,” O’Connor wrote in the report.
The NASA review was unable to interview the people who had made the earlier allegations because those interviews had been conducted anonymously.