NASA is making a mistake by dismissing allegations of drunken astronauts as "urban legends", says the doctor who wrote the original reportcontaining the claims.
Speaking to a congressional subcommittee on Thursday, Air Force doctor Richard Bachmann said the space agency is heading down a dangerous path, treating morale problems and mental health issues too cavalierly.
Last week's official report, which found no evidence to support claims that astronauts had flown drunk, showed only that employees are not being honest about deep-rooted problems, Bachmann claimed. According to the Associated Press:
For his part, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the panel that the agency is taking the issues seriously, and is reevaluating its health care system.
This is going to be a story with legs. If in fact there is a culture of unhappy, demoralized astronauts and support staff, it's not surprising that they wouldn't talk to an official internal investigator, even when offered anonymity. How many of us entirely trust a government or corporate boss to respect that kind of promise.
But if there really are problems, we can expect to see more whistleblowing down the line. Too many lives are at risk.
