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Astronauts are sober as judges, says NASA

Official report is in

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

Astronauts do not fly drunk, and that's official. NASA has released details of its safety review, which found no evidence to support claims that spacefarers were hitting the bottle before heading for the stars.

NASA boss Michael Griffin said: "I have said many times during the past weeks that NASA takes these allegations very seriously ... I also have said that the stories cited in the report seem improbable to those of us familiar with the astronauts' rigourous and very public activities during the hours leading up to a space flight."

The review, conducted by NASA's chief of Safety and Mission Assurance Bryan O'Connor involved almost 100 interviews, and well as a review of 40,000 records dating from 1984, covering 94 shuttle missions and 10 Soyuz flights, and an inspection of the Johnson and Kennedy space centres. Nearly all active astronauts were among those interviewed.

O'Connor said he was confident there were sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that astronauts are not drunk when they fly.

The review was prompted by allegations that astronauts were so intoxicated ahead of missions that NASA's own medical staff had raised concerns. The allegations centred on a shuttle mission that was later delayed, and a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

Latest Comments
Anonymous Coward

OK

these comments are much better than the story and how did this drunken space jocks talk get started anyway not that I would hold it against them one observation however it's very unlikely that people would knowingly submit themselves to the first hours of zero g with a hangover throwing up is one thing the type of sick this would make you would put you off your lager.

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Pissed as a newt

This thread reminds me of part of a Pete 'n Dud sketch.

Dud: "Dunno why everyone says 'Pissed as a newt'. I once new a newt and he was always as sober as a judge."

Pete: "That's funny. I once knew a judge and he was always as pissed as a newt."

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bothersome

It's the beer cans left in orbit that bother me. How long will they take to come down?

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