Report: NASA needs tighter booze ban

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 27 (UPI) -- A committee investigating the health of U.S. astronauts said that NASA needs to do more to keep them sober in the hours before liftoff.

In a report released Friday, the panel said flight surgeons and astronauts reported some heavy drinking in the hours immediately before flights. The report said that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration needs to change its procedures to ensure that its policies banning alcohol use before flights are followed.

"Alcohol is freely used in crew quarters," the report said. "Two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on-scene leadership regarding flight safety. However, the individuals were still permitted to fly."

The committee headed by Air Force Col. Dr. Richard E. Bachmann, head of NASA's Astronaut Health Care System, was set up after the arrest of Lisa Nowak, a former astronaut who allegedly attempted to abduct a rival for the affections of another astronaut.

Shana Dale, NASA's deputy administrator, promised that the agency would move swiftly on the recommendations, CNN reported. She said the findings have already been discussed with the commander of the space shuttle Endeavour mission, which is scheduled to launch in two weeks.