NASA rejects drunk astronaut claims as "legend"

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Wednesday rejected claims that drunk astronauts flew on spaceships and jets, and the head of the U.S. space agency dismissed one tale of high-flying inebriation as "urban legend."

NASA launched an internal investigation following a July report alleging that an astronaut boarded a space shuttle and a T-38 training jet while drunk, and was intoxicated when heading to space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

"I was unable to verify any case in which an astronaut spaceflight crewmember was impaired on launch day, or any case where a manager of a flight surgeon or co-crewmember disregarded their recommendation that a crewmember not fly," Bryan O'Connor, head of NASA's safety and mission assurance office, said in a report released on Wednesday.

The accusations were part of an outside review of astronaut health issues that NASA administrator Michael Griffin ordered after the arrest of Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak. She has been accused of stalking and attacking a woman in an Orlando airport parking lot in February.

Nowak, who flew her first space shuttle mission in July 2006, was fired as an astronaut six months ago, along with shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, who has said he had relationships with both women.

Nowak's trial on assault, battery and attempted kidnapping charges is scheduled to begin next month. Her attorney has notified the Florida court that she may use an insanity defense.

NASA immediately adopted some of the July report's key recommendations, including additional mental health screenings of crewmembers. But the agency was stunned by its allegations that inebriated astronauts boarded spacecraft and a training jet.

Griffin tapped O'Connor, a former astronaut, to investigate the claim.

In a review of 20 years of shuttle flight history and 10 Soyuz missions that included a U.S. astronaut flying to the International Space Station, O'Connor said he found no evidence to support the allegations.

In particular, an anecdote that a flight surgeon in Russia was so worried about an astronaut's drunken state the night before launch on a Soyuz that he watched over the astronaut all night never happened, Griffin told reporters.

"The story didn't occur," Griffin said. "Where these stories come from, I don't know. There is a Web site for urban legends. Go look it up. There are quite a number of things out there that are cited that are not true. This story is one of them."

O'Connor reviewed more than 1,500 reports from the agency's anonymous survey systems and conducted hundreds of interviews with astronauts, flight surgeons and crew support personnel during his monthlong investigation.

He recommended flight surgeons have more oversight on launch day and that NASA refine several policies relating to astronaut behavior and health.