Inebriated Astronauts - No Problem! NASA has outlived it's usefulness anyway

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EuGpfT308zY ^ | 7-28-07 | MrArbitrage123

[MrArbitrage123]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EuGpfT308zY

I think NASA is becoming less relevant with every year anyway.

[2111USMC]

"This sounds like overzealous hype about things that probably went on in the 60’s and 70’s."

I went through the museum area NASA has set up in Houston a few years ago. All I can say is that you'd have to get me passing out drunk to get me in one of those cramped capsules. I'm not sure I could stand it for more than a few hours, let alone days. Very small and tight.

[Kozak]

You are irrelevant. NASA lives on.<

Just like all the other Frankenstein Bureaucracies of the Federal Government.

[plain talk]

yep. So typical of the feminization of the times we live in. How many incidents did they mention - what two? So what? Why is this even a story? Next they will be reporting on sailors in nuke subs that .... shock ... came back to their sub drunk from shore leave. They may even report on Bill Clinton getting a BJ while conducting foreign policy ... on the other hand perhaps not.

[plain talk]

Why is this even a story?

Like what? the U.S. Military. Every big institution is beauracratic. Comes with the territory. NASA is doing a core function only government can do and while nothing is perfect NASA is a great example of American know-how and can-do attitude. They deserve our respect. So I dismiss the scoffers.

[cripplecreek]

Just for a little perspective, let’s not forget that dogs and monkeys have flown into space.

[exit82]

In 1968, I watched “2001-A Space Odyssey” looking forward to the day I could sit by the pool of a Hilton orbiting in space, looking at the Earth through the jet age plastic dome roof, having got there on the Pan Am Space Clipper.

Ah, the dreams of youth!

[Night Hides Not]

If you’ve ever read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography you’ll get the impression that he and those around him flew experimental aircraft while they were half lit all the time. When he broke the sound barrier he was flying with a broken rib he didn’t tell his superiors about. He had gotten drunk the night before and fell off a horse or something similar.

Times must have changed: I was stationed on two airbases during my tour in Germany, and I spent a fair amount of time at the Officers Clubs there. I never saw a pilot take a sip of adult beverages.

Off, damned sarcasm, off!

[counterpunch]

NASA is one of the few relevant things our government funds.

[Elsie]

Launch is a very stressful period and even if they are sober, there is absolutely nothing for them to do until the shuttle is safely in orbit.

Ya think that ANYONE would climb into a big, movable BOMB's nosecone and NOT be drunk to do it!?

[Elsie]

Especially since all I have to do is sit there and pray for the first few hours while my body is torn apart from the g-force.

Actually; the LAUNCH g force is much less than the re-entry.

---

But; wouldja rather be blown to bits going up, or crispy crittered coming down?

[printhead]

With Space Food Sticks to soak it all up.

[Mamzelle]

All the more reason to stick with robots—who don’t have to come home.

[cripplecreek]

Like my grandfather always said. He only drank once in his life....from 1944 to 1947.

[fewz]

Well, I don’t know about the shuttle but I would have had to be drunk to even sit on top of a Saturn V. I got to go up on the Mobile Launcher tower and look down on Apollo 12 while it was setting on the pad. You are a long way up and the wind is blowing. Just sitting there after the Mobile Service Structure has been moved away, with only the sheer bolts holding you up, would be scary enough but when the engines fired it must have been terrifying. There were escape cables running from the Mobile Launcher tower to the ground about a quarter mile away from the pad. I can’t imagine someone actually sliding down those things. The starting point for the slide must be about 400 feet above the end point.

[RightWhale]

There were escape cables running from the Mobile Launcher tower to the ground about a quarter mile away from the pad.

Somebody must have tried those once or twice to see if they would work. If the cable brake failed you would be doing about 100 mph at the bottom. Not quite freefall terminal velocity.

[FReepaholic]

...What mission put the shuttle on a westward trajectory over central florida??? The Atlantic is to the East....

Optical illusion. Missions to the ISS actually go Northeast.

[weegee]

How many times have congressmen been drunk while in session?

[anymouse]

Maybe you should avoid video recording yourself while drunk too. :)

[fso301]

Missions to the ISS actually go Northeast.

That has always been my understanding.

[weegee]

If you’ve ever read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography you’ll get the impression that he and those around him flew experimental aircraft while they were half lit all the time. When he broke the sound barrier he was flying with a broken rib he didn’t tell his superiors about. He had gotten drunk the night before and fell off a horse or something similar.

It is clear that JFK was under the influence of prescription pain killers while he was running the country, no transfer of power during his medical treatments. Additionally there are those who claim to have smoked pot and done LSD with JFK. A woman who made those claims was later killed.