Astronauts Lit at Launch?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/07/27/nasa.woes/index.html

They're lucky they didn't get pulled over by a Martian Space Patrol officer.

[Checkmite]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/07/27/nasa.woes/index.html



Wait a second. From the end of the article:

NASA's next scheduled space shuttle mission is August 7, for the crew of the orbiter Endeavour. A NASA spokesman said an internal investigation has been launched into the sabotage of the computer and said it would be repaired and ready for next month's liftoff.

The computer problem surfaced, NASA said, when a subcontractor who supplied the computer notified NASA. Workers checked the computer and found it was intentionally damaged.

This almost looks like a fragment of different article. What's this about sabotage?

[PixyMisa]

Sounds like they had a liquid launch.

[PixyMisa]

This almost looks like a fragment of different article. What's this about sabotage?
Yeah, two different stories, but they came out at the same time and CNN seem to have mangled them together. Some loon working for a subcontractor deliberately cut wires in a computer headed for the ISS.

[strathmeyer]

I don't suppose NASA wants to know that I can still be drunk more than twelve hours after drinking? What's the rule for airplane pilots? 12 or eight hours?

If we're talking about the space shuttle (you know, that great big expensive thing), why not a one week ban?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I don't suppose NASA wants to know that I can still be drunk more than twelve hours after drinking? What's the rule for airplane pilots? 12 or eight hours?

8, IIRC.

[Overman]

I wonder how you do Sobriety tests in space...

"I want you to float in a straight line"

[Darth Rotor]

8, IIRC.
12, not 8.

The old rule was "12 hours bottle to throttle" but it is now "12 hours bottle to brief" which is when you meet, preflight.

FWIW, those old military rules tend to pass to NASA, but the military flight surgeons have put together some good presentations to show that if you drink just a few, the 12 hour rule works, but if you pour 8-10 down your throat and cut off at "12 hours prior" you will some times have in your system the residues that would be like drinking within the 12 hour window.

If you are going to fly, moderation or nothing the night before is the best way to go.

On the other hand, if I was going to sit on top of a Rocket with the chance to be the next Columbia Disaster, exploding during launch, I'd want a couple shots of Maker's Mark in me. :D

DR

[Katana]

12, not 8.

The old rule was "12 hours bottle to throttle" but it is now "12 hours bottle to brief" which is when you meet, preflight.

FWIW, those old military rules tend to pass to NASA, but the military flight surgeons have put together some good presentations to show that if you drink just a few, the 12 hour rule works, but if you pour 8-10 down your throat and cut off at "12 hours prior" you will some times have in your system the residues that would be like drinking within the 12 hour window.

If you are going to fly, moderation or nothing the night before is the best way to go.

On the other hand, if I was going to sit on top of a Rocket with the chance to be the next Columbia Disaster, exploding during launch, I'd want a couple shots of Maker's Mark in me. :D

DR


Knob Creek for me (as far as bourbons go). ;)

[The Painter]

Knob Creek for me (as far as bourbons go). ;)

You should try Makers Mark.


I think drinking in space was learned from the Russians. They brought vodka to the space station.

[hgc]

Wait a second. From the end of the article:

This almost looks like a fragment of different article. What's this about sabotage?


Looks like it was thrown in as an aside, as it's the other big news currently going about NASA.

[Brown]

As I wrote at http://www.badastronomy.com/:Astronauts being heavy drinkers is nothing new. Tom Wolfe, writing about the Mercury Astronauts in "The Right Stuff":The people of America cheered their brains out for thirty minutes or so, and then you went back into your noble isolation for more work … or for a few proficiency runs at nailing down the holy coordinates of the fighter jock’s life, which were, of course, Flying & Drinking and Drinking & Driving and the rest of it. These things you could plot on the great graph of Project Mercury in the most spectacular way, with the exception of the first: Flying.
…
They enjoyed the rude animal health of youth. They put their bodies through dreadful abuses, often in the form of drinking bouts followed by lack of sleep and mortal hangovers, and they still performed like champions. ("I don’t advise it, you understand, but it can be done"–provided you have the right stuff, you miserable pudknocker.)

[Katana]

You should try Makers Mark.

{snip}

Oh, I have. Many times. ;)

Very tasty, too.

[Wheezebucket]

God damn, astronauts are so cool.

[MilwaukeeMike]

WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOTTLE TO FULL THROTTLE!!!!!!!!!YAHHHHHH.... Oh S*** I just peed myself.... Watch out Bob, my urine cloud is floating over to you...

[Crossbow]

8, IIRC.

Yes, that is correct, the regulations do specify 8 hours. However, they also have a stipulation in there about blood-alcohol content, compromising safety, and so on.

Also, the FAA suggests via there safety handouts that a time frame of 12 to 24 hours would be a better than 8 hours.

Anyway, for those so interested, the exact regulations for those flying under FAA rules are spelled out in 91.17 "Alcohol or drugs.".

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=ecfr;cc=ecfr;sid=65ed248a3c4e6dd 8765f26b43a313828;region=DIV1;q1=91.17;rgn=div8;vi ew=text;idno=14;node=14%3A2.0.1.3.10.1.4.9

Personally, I expect that everyone on the Space Shuttle crew is supposed to operate under much more stringent rules, but for whatever reason in these cases, the rules were deliberately disobeyed.

[blndrhed]

I wonder if their autopilot is an inflatable dude with an air valve for a weiner?

[Crossbow]

It now looks like those allegations of drunk astronauts may be quite unfounded after all.

That sure is good news as I was a bit worried about the matter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070809/sc_nm/space_shuttle_nasa_dc

So far, no evidence of drunk astronauts: NASA


CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA has reviewed 10 years of space flights and found no evidence to back up allegations that astronauts boarded a space shuttle and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft drunk, the U.S. space agency's boss said on Wednesday.

...

"Right now, we've gone back 10 years and we can't even find where it would be a possibility there was crew under the influence on either a Soyuz or a shuttle," he said.

...

Speaking at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the space shuttle Endeavour blasted into orbit on Wednesday, Griffin said he would be "extraordinarily surprised" if there was anything to the accusations.

He noted that shuttle crews are under intense supervision on launch day and are not alone from the moment they wake up.

...

[Twilek]

He noted that shuttle crews are under intense supervision on launch day and are not alone from the moment they wake up.

That was my first thought when the story broke - when the heck would they have time to drink? Aren't they in quarantine or something even before launch day? I just can't see any of them having the free time to nip on down to the local pub for a few pints the night before.

[Darth Rotor]

Yes, that is correct, the regulations do specify 8 hours. However, they also have a stipulation in there about blood-alcohol content, compromising safety, and so on.

Also, the FAA suggests via there safety handouts that a time frame of 12 to 24 hours would be a better than 8 hours.

Anyway, for those so interested, the exact regulations for those flying under FAA rules are spelled out in 91.17 "Alcohol or drugs.".

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=ecfr;cc=ecfr;sid=65ed248a3c4e6dd 8765f26b43a313828;region=DIV1;q1=91.17;rgn=div8;vi ew=text;idno=14;node=14%3A2.0.1.3.10.1.4.9

Personally, I expect that everyone on the Space Shuttle crew is supposed to operate under much more stringent rules, but for whatever reason in these cases, the rules were deliberately disobeyed.
Can you show me where FAA rules rather than Military rules apply to astronauts? The pilots are almost without exception American military pilots, and IIRC, are required to adhere to those rules for any and all flying duty.

If you can show me otherwise, I will stand corrected.

DR

[webfusion]

That was my first thought when the story broke - when the heck would they have time to drink? Aren't they in quarantine or something even before launch day? I just can't see any of them having the free time to nip on down to the local pub for a few pints the night before.


OK, so how do you explain this :

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/374246bb66d0ed723.jpg
Barbara Morgan, STS-118

[Twilek]

Quarantini's Space Pub? Hey, it even has a replica of the shuttle on the bar! :p

[webfusion]

Space Pub? I'm instantly reminded of the Cantina (Star Wars) with the rockin' band Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/images/photos/cantina/zutmore_drinking.jpg
Zutmore at the bar -- Mos Eisley on Tatooine.

Apparently, our astronauts drinking here & now on Earth is just a harbinger of common intergalactic imbibing in the future!

Just sayin' ------

[Crossbow]

Can you show me where FAA rules rather than Military rules apply to astronauts? The pilots are almost without exception American military pilots, and IIRC, are required to adhere to those rules for any and all flying duty.

If you can show me otherwise, I will stand corrected.

DR

I will not answer your question.

[Crossbow]

Busted!

Fortunately, it turns out that there was really nothing to the accusations that were offered about drunken astronauts.

:)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_re_us/drinking_astronauts

NASA: Astronauts sober for space


WASHINGTON - There is no evidence astronauts were drunk or had been drinking heavily before launching into space, an internal NASA investigation found Wednesday.

An independent astronaut health panel's report of two unsubstantiated instances of heavy alcohol use before flights grabbed headlines in July. But when NASA's safety chief tried to confirm the allegations, he came up empty.

...

O'Connor's review went back 20 years and involved interviews with 90 astronauts, flight surgeons and other NASA officials.

...

Twenty flight surgeons signed an e-mail to O'Connor saying they have never seen any drunken astronauts before a launch or training jet flight.

O'Connor looked through 40,134 government and contractor reports of mishaps and problems dating back through 1984 — many of them anonymous — and none of them involved alcohol or drug abuse by astronauts.

...

[Darth Rotor]

I will not answer your question.
My, that's petty of you, working on discordant.

DR

[Travis]

Looks like someone's been spewing some unsubstantiated accusations that unscrupulous journalists...... wait..... that would imply that there are some scrupulous journalists out there....... eh.... journalists ate up without question.

Big surprise.