An anonymous health care survey done by NASA in response to reports that astronauts flew drunk didn’t turn up any evidence of alcohol problems, the agency says.
“We haven’t uncovered an issue,” Ellen Ochoa, deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, US, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The anonymous, web-based survey was completed by all of NASA’s 31 flight surgeons and 87 of its 98 current astronauts. They were asked about the level of communication and trust among astronauts and flight surgeons, their knowledge of safety procedures and policy, and whether they would be comfortable raising safety concerns.
Astronauts and flight surgeons were also questioned about reports that an astronaut was drunk on launch day. The allegations surfaced in an independent review of astronaut health care, which was released in July 2007. That report was ordered after astronaut Lisa Nowak donned diapers and drove 1500 km across the US before assaulting a romantic rival in February.
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In response to the independent review, NASA officials interviewed hundreds of personnel and reviewed two decades of records. After that effort, agency chief Michael Griffin likened tales that astronauts flew drunk to urban myths.
This latest survey is an attempt to flush out any other safety concerns. It did turn up accounts of what NASA describes as “a single isolated incident of perceived impairment of a crew member.”
Prescription drugs
The problem occurred “in the final days before launch, but not on launch day or within 12 hours of a launch or aviation event”, according to the report. Ochoa said the astronaut was apparently suffering ill effects from a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol. She declined to give further details, citing privacy concerns.
While the original independent review committee reported that NASA had repeatedly ignored safety concerns, the latest report by the agency paints a much rosier picture. Astronauts and flight surgeons now have a better working relationship than ever, NASA says, and they feel comfortable raising safety concerns.
“They’re extremely competent and extremely professional and concerned about doing a great job,” Ochoa says.
NASA doesn’t plan to make specific changes to its policies or procedures in response to the survey, according to Jeff Davis, director of the Space Life Sciences Directorate at Johnson Space Center, but he says there’s now a heightened awareness of safety issues.
The chair of the US Congressional subcommittee on space and aeronautics, Mark Udall, who called a hearing on NASA’s astronaut health care system in 2007, says the latest report provides “useful data” but adds that he intends to press NASA to provide a plan of action to address the issues raised over the last year.
