Doctor defends report of drunken astronauts

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 7, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL- An Air Force doctor who headed a controversial astronaut health study told Congress Thursday that NASA is discouraging open communications by rebutting reports of drunken astronauts on launch day and deriding the claims as urban legends.

The bigger issue, more than drinking, is NASA's apparent disregard of mental health and behavior issues among its astronauts, and the demoralizing reluctance among flight surgeons and astronauts to report improper conduct, said Col. Richard Bachmann Jr.

Last week, NASA released the results of its own internal investigation, saying it had found no evidence or even hints of astronaut intoxication before launch, contrary to what the Bachmann committee had reported a month earlier.

While defending his report, Bachmann said he understands NASA's outrage over his medical panel's citing of at least two instances of launch-day intoxication. Even though fellow astronauts or flight surgeons notified their bosses about the crew members' drunken state, they were ignored, Bachmann's committee was told confidentially.

"Public statements that such things are simply impossible, challenging the veracity of the findings, referring to them as unproven allegations or urban legends, rather than acknowledging how difficult raising such concerns can be, do not encourage openness and safety, make future reporting even less likely, and increase the risk of future mishaps or incidents," Bachmann told the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in Washington.

NASA's inability to find even a single case of astronaut drunkenness on launch day doesn't prove it didn't happen, said Bachmann, commander of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 23:06:30]