T-Minus 12 Hours
After February found lovesick astronaut Lisa Nowak arrested and accused of pepper-spraying her former lover’s girlfriend in an attempted kidnapping, and the recent allegations of interstellar pilots boozing it up before shooting off into orbit, NASA’s year could be going better. To maintain some spin control on the wild antics of the flight crews, NASA’s senior management has a plan:
Put it in writing.
| AP |
That’s right, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided that pilots might be a little foggy on how close to launch they can have that last martini, Manhattan or merlot, since “there wasn’t any actual documentation” that said what the time frame was, according to Director of Flight Crew Operations Ellen Ochoa at a news conference Friday afternoon.
“Twelve hours prior to departure” seems to be the new last call, said Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. When asked about completely prohibiting alcohol from the flight crew quarters, Dale thought the majority of astronauts were responsible enough.
“If they want to go back to crew quarters and have a beer, I think that’s OK,” Dale said.
When Yeas & Nays asked how NASA could still consider its spacemen responsible, chief health and medical officer Dr. Richard S. Williams told us he’s “never heard any complaints before this.” (Perhaps the slurred speech made it difficult to understand them?)
In a statement Friday, Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., the ranking member of the space subcommittee, said, “Apparently, flight surgeons and astronauts are hesitant to report ‘major crewmedical or behavioral problems’ because their concerns would be disregarded or ignored. … After the shuttle is retired in 2010, NASA’s Constellation program will return Americans to the moon for extended stays. An astronaut’s physical and psychological well-being will be more and not less important.”
