A NASA review has found that on at least two occasions, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons warned that they were so drunk they posed a safety risk, according to an influential aviation trade journal.
An independent committee appointed by NASA in February also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts within the standard 12 hours before launch when flight crews are prohibited from drinking, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology.
NASA refused to comment on the Aviation Week article.
The space agency plans to release two reports on astronaut health issues today. One is an internal report and the other was written by an independent panel appointed after former astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested in Florida for allegedly assaulting a woman she considered a romantic rival for another astronaut.
Some experts weren't surprised by reports of astronauts drinking. Astronauts has never shied away from alcohol, particularly in the early years when crews were made up of military fighter pilots, according to NASA observers. The corps' early years were chronicled by Tom Wolfe in his best-selling book The Right Stuff.
"It's relatively well-known that several of the astronauts, especially in the early days, were fairly hard-living," said Roger Launius, chairman of space history at the National Air and Space Museum. "It's certainly not unknown to most people that some astronauts drank alcohol."
The same changing public attitudes toward alcohol use that killed off the three-martini lunch are also likely to mean an astronaut corps that is more careful about alcohol use, he said.
"There's been changes in society as a whole, and I think the astronaut corps reflect that," he said.
Other experts said that if the report is true, the incidents could have involved astronauts with preflight jitters.
"They're highly trained for these missions, training for more than two years, and the idea that people would wreck themselves with alcohol just before a mission doesn't make sense. They'd have to be really nervous," said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute. "I find it implausible, but who knows?"
The online Aviation Week report yesterday did not specify dates or identify any astronauts involved. NBC news quoted an unidentified official who saw a draft copy of the NASA report and said it contained only a one-paragraph reference to intoxicated astronauts, based strictly on anecdotal information. The report also doesn't make it clear whether the flights were space missions or flights on T-38 training jets, NBC reported.
Commercial airline pilots are subject to random alcohol and drug tests. They are prohibited from consuming alcohol for eight hours before piloting an aircraft and cannot have a blood alcohol level above 0.02 percent, said John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association in Washington.
The legal blood level for driving under the influence of alcohol in Maryland is 0.08 percent.
Astronauts are routinely given physical exams a week before their flights, are seen by a flight surgeon briefly on the morning before launch and stay at NASA facilities for up to a week before their missions. But they are not prohibited from having alcohol at any time, said Tom Jones, a former NASA astronaut who grew up in Baltimore.
Jones said he wouldn't be surprised if the report is accurate. But in his 11 years as an astronaut, including service on four shuttle flights, he never heard of anyone using alcohol in the hours before a flight, he said.
"I'd regard it as extremely unprofessional," he said.
He added that flight surgeons have the authority to ground any member of a shuttle crew and postpone a flight if necessary.
If the report is accurate, "Those flight surgeons weren't doing their jobs," he said.
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston began an internal assessment of behavioral medicine available to astronauts several months ago, according to David Steitz, a NASA spokesman.
NASA also requested that an independent panel review the general health services available in February after Nowak's arrest, he said.
Nowak, who was fired by NASA in March, allegedly drove all night from Houston to confront her presumed rival at the Orlando airport. She is scheduled to appear in an Orlando courtroom Aug. 24 for a hearing on pretrial motions, according to a spokeswoman for her attorney.
NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin is scheduled to hold a news conference today to discuss the findings in both reports at NASA headquarters in Washington, Steitz said.
The reports also will be available at noon today online at: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/astronautreport.html
dennis.obrien@baltsun.com