Now this one's a bit more interesting

(Title in flow from the last post I put up)

It says here:

NASA administrators promised fast action today in response to an internal investigation that said astronauts had flown after drinking heavily on at least two occasions.

At first, I thought it might mean before flying a plane. (Astronauts at least used to be allowed to commandeer jets at will.) But, no, this is before getting on a rocket:

… Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who headed the panel, said that one of the astronauts referred to in the findings flew on a Russian spacecraft, and another was cleared to launch on a space shuttle.

I find this hard to believe, for at least two reasons. First, the obvious one, which was alluded to by an unnamed astronaut quoted in the story: these people are practically locked in a clean room for several days before flight. I can see that it might be a game to try to sneak in a nip or two, but really, drunk?

Second, the wait for an astronaut before actually getting a flight is years. Who would screw that up, after jumping through all those hoops, and waiting that long?

This story has the smell of a hidden agenda. Your conspiracy theories are welcome. Mine is pretty tame: some politician or other insider wants to kill all crewed space flights.

And no diaper jokes.