Does NASA allow drunken astronauts to fly into space? According to a health report published in Aviation Week and Space Technology, the answer could be a "Yes".

The publication reported that there were at least two occasions where inebriated astronauts were permitted to launch, posing a flight-safety risk to themselves and other astronauts. Astronauts normally adhere to the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle", but there were two instances of heavy drinking that made the astronauts a less sober than required.

But the health report published in the Aviation Week and Space Technology was reportedly based on unsubstantiated anonymous interviews, according to a NASA official. According to him, NASA will have a news conference to discuss a special panel's findings about astronaut health, including "heavy use of alcohol" before launch. The panel includes a NASA consultant and Air Force experts and aerospace medicine and clinical psychiatry.

The panel was created after astronaut Lisa Nowak got arrested for assaulting a fellow astronaut's girlfriend. Nowak was fired by NASA last March.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's operations chief was asked if there was a safety issue involving a drunken astronaut in the past. "The obvious answer is no. I've never had any instances of that," he replied. "There's not been a disciplinary action or anything I've been involved with regarding this type of activity."

For the first time ever, NASA publicly fired a member of its astronaut corps from the service by firing 43-year old navy captain Lisa Nowak over felonies involving attempted kidnapping, burglary and assault charged against her last month.

Nowak, a mother of three, allegedly drove all the way from Houston to Orlando and confronted Colleen Shipman, pepper-spraying the civilian and attempting to kidnap her. Shipman is regarded by Nowak as her romantic rival to Navy Cmdr Bill Oefelein, a space shuttle pilot.

NASA says that under its civil service regulations, the accused may only have been punished with a forced leave, but given the fact that Nowak is a military officer, such regulations do not apply.

Nowak, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, will be reassigned to the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, Texas. What job she will be doing there is yet to be determined. NASA, meanwhile, has said that their decision to dismiss her from her post was not reflective of their belief in her guilt or innocence.

Authorities reported that the lady astronaut drove 900 miles in astronaut diapers to eliminate the need to stop. Found in the vehicle were a knife, a steel mallet, a BB gun and rubber tubing which may or may not have been planned for use in the attempted crime.

We guess love can't fly her to the moon, then.

This month, American astronaut and US Navy Captain Lisa Marie Nowak got arrested and subsequently charged with attempted murder of US Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, a woman Nowak thought was her rival for another astronaut's affections.

This happening spawned talk of how NASA deals with unstable astronauts in space. As you may well know, would-be space scientists are carefully tested and screened to eliminate those who are unstable. A mentally unstable astronaut could cause all sorts of havoc that could endanger their crew members in a space station.

It turns out that NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. Associated Press declares that these procedures include binding the questionable astronaut's wrists and ankles with duct tape, tying him down with a bungee cord and injecting him with tranquilizers if necessary.

There are no weapons, no guns in a space shuttle; a bullet could pierce a space ship and could kill everyone. There are no stun guns on hand, either. As a precaution, space station kits contain anti-depression and tranquilizers, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications. No NASA astronaut has ever been treated with these medications while on space; then again, like what was mentioned above, it seems that there's nothing a roll of duct tape couldn't fix.

The STS-121 mission has ended and the crew of space shuttle Discovery have returned home to Texas. STS-121 Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialist Mike Fossum, and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers were given a hero's welcome by hundreds of colleagues, friends, family and members of the public. In turn, the crew thanked those who made the flight successful.

Discovery flight commander Steven Lindsey recalls NASA's two major objectives. One is to complete the 'Return to Flight' test objectives and the other is to get up to the space station, prepare it for assembly, fix whatever's broken, and deliver critical supplies to the crew. Both objectives were achieved and Lindsey acknowledged the support of the mission control teams in Houston:

"Every single minute we were awake and every single minute we were asleep, they flew the mission with us. They were up there with us every day. We were talking to them all the time. I can't count the number of times during the mission that these teams made critical decisions that made the difference between succeeding on a timeline or failing on a timeline. And they just did a superb job."

The Discovery crew began their long journey back to Earth Saturday as the shuttle cast off from the International Space Station (ISS) after eight days of orbital work. Discovery pulled away from its berth at the end of the station's Destiny laboratory at about 6:08 a.m. EDT (1008 GMT) to begin its planned two-day trip back to Earth.

The STS-121 astronaut took some final parting snapshots before hatches linking their spacecraft to the ISS were closed at about 4:00 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT). “We have physical separation,” Discovery’s commander Steven Lindsey said as the 100-ton orbiter pulled away from the 200-ton space station 223 miles above and off the coast of New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the three astronauts aboard the ISS watched their departing comrades after a busy week of restocking the space station's supply, testing an orbital inspection boom for use as a repair platform and evaluating a heat shield crack repair method. “This moment came so fast,” ISS Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov. “Have a safe trip, soft landings, and we’ll see you on the ground in a few months,” was ISS Expedition 13 flight engineer Jeffrey Williams' message as the shuttle pulled away.

Discovery will hover about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers) from the ISS today while STS-121 mission specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson complete a final check of the orbiter’s nose cap and starboard wing leading edge. Back on earth, engineers continue to study a potential hydrazine fuel leak in one of Discovery’s three auxiliary power units. Flight controllers will test the small leak on Sunday to determine if the APU should remain in operation during Monday’s planned landing. Discovery is set to to land in Cape Canaveral, Florida at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on July 17 at about 9:14 a.m. EDT (1314 GMT)

The six astronauts of the Discovery shuttle passed the midpoint of their spaceflight as they spent their 8th day in orbit. NASA’s STS-121 astronauts commanded by Steven Lindsey, and the just arrived ISS crewmember Thomas Reiter, are pushing ahead with transferring the cargo between the station and Discovery. Space cowboys Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum are also gearing up for their third and final spacewalk of the flight. The two astronauts will step outside the space station’s Quest airlock to test a heat shield crack repair method inside Discovery’s payload bay. That spacewalk is expected to take about six hours.

STS-121 mission specialist Lisa Nowak, and crewmate Stephanie Wilson will conduct a final round of heat shield inspections after undocking from the ISS on Saturday to scan for any damage from micrometeorites or debris. Meanwhile, Discovery’s STS-121 astronauts and the ISS Expedition 13 crewmembers are busy filling the cargo module known as Leonardo with trash and unnecessary items for the return trip to Earth.

Many of Discovery’s astronauts are confident that with the success of their mission, NASA can resume construction flights to the ISS. Discovery’s STS-121 spaceflight is aimed at completing many of the return to flight objective that started with the STS-114 missions.

According to NASA shuttle officials the jury is still out on whether the Discovery orbiter’s heat shield is safe for the return trip to Earth pending the completion of the analysis of images taken during the inspection last Friday. But NASA expressed optimism that Discovery’s heat shield will receive clearance for reentry by the end of this weekend.

STS-121 mission specialists Stephanie Wilson, Lisa Nowak and Mark Kelly relayed a fresh batch of high-resolution images taken from the International Space Station (ISS) during Thursday’s docking. The six images are from different areas of Discovery’s heat shield which are possible cause for concerns. Several appear to have been settled including a frayed bit of fabric (“tadpole”) gap filler just aft shuttle's nose landing gear and a small white blotch on the orbiter’s nose. But the final analysis, however, is still to come.

They are now focusing on a protruding gap filler peeking an inch above the surrounding heat-resistant tiles near the orbiter’s wing flap. The object is near the door that covers an external tank connection and could possibly lead to higher than expected heating aft of the gap filler during reentry. Analysis of the thermal and structural effects of such heating is expected to be completed by Sunday.

Several images taken along the middle of Discovery’s right wing leading edge have also caught the attention of NASA  analysts. The images show dark marks on the heat-resistant reinforced carbon panels that are subjected to temperatures of up to 2,960 degrees Fahrenheit during the shuttles reentry. Aside from these six areas NASA declared the Discovery in ship shape.

NASA sighed with relief as data from Discovery show no concerns over the health of the vehicle. NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon, said early image analysis of the space shuttles external tank, nose cap and heat shield-lined wing edges revealed items of interest but nothing to worry flight controllers or the crew. “Right now it’s zero,” said Shannon, "We’ll get the truth data tomorrow.”

After arriving at the International Space Station (ISS) on July 6, two Discovery astronauts will conduct a high-resolution photographic survey of the orbiter’s tile-lined belly during the spacecraft's back flip maneuver. The images from that survey will complete the health check of Discovery’s heat shield.

Earlier today, STS-121 mission specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, put Discovery’s sensor laden orbital boom to work, scanning the heat-resistant reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels along the orbiter’s wing leading edges. These scanning revealed nothing that could impact heat shield performance. The boom survey did find a protruding gapfiller jutting out a half-inch from the underside of Discovery’s port wing - an area where gapfillers presented no concern.

Sometimes we focus so much on things that readily grab our attention, and lose sight of the more important things. Pretty much the same way NASA and the media focused on the scheduled STS-121 launch (amidst the no-go vote from safety engineers), and paid little attention to the crew who will brave the odds come July 1. It's time we put the spotlight back to these unsung heroes.

Meet Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, two NASA astronauts who will make their spaceflight debut aboard space shuttle Discovery. They will watch over their spaceflights robotics and cargo transfer activities during the 12-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining them will be spacewalker Michael Fossum.

Even though she has a rookie status, 43-year old Nowak has over 10 years of NASA experience. In a preflight interview, Nowak said of her long-term rookie status, "Everybody is called a rookie on the first time, but people have been here going on 10 years and we've done a lot in a lot of different areas."

The Washington, D.C.-native is currently a US Navy commander who has performed in a number of positions within the Astronaut Office at JSC. During her stint, she took on technical duties in operations planning, joined the robotics branch and served as a spacecraft communicator to astronauts in Earth orbit.

Her primary job as a Mission Specialist 2 on the STS-121 mission will be to guide the robotic arms aboard Discovery and the ISS during spacewalks. The most crucial among her tasks is the inspection of the shuttle's heat-shield.

Mission Specialist 3 Stephanie Wilson is tasked to supervise the delivery of more than 5,000 pounds of equipment, cargo, and food for ISS astronauts. It's no easy job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Wilson holds an engineering science degree from Harvard University. She joined NASA and made it into the astronaut ranks in 1996. Before joining the astronaut circles, she worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for four years to support the space agency's Galileo mission to Jupiter.

Wilson is very much aware of the possible risks involved in the mission, but that's not going to stop her. She said, "I'm very much looking forward to getting the [space] station the items that they need."

Three weeks from now, NASA will be launching space shuttle Discovery and an astronaut crew into space in the STS-121 mission. This is another attempt by the agency to save its ailing and aging shuttle program. Blastoff is scheduled for July 1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Central Florida, though the launch window can remain open until July 19.

Space engineers have been busy prepping the Discovery and ensuring that the tragedy of Columbia will never happen again. The engineers have made sure that there are no foam debris in Discovery and they recently discovered a faulty electrical box that they are working on. If you would recall, an almost 2 pounds of foam debris in the heat shield caused the untimely demise of the shuttle Columbia and its crew.

But still, they offer no assurance even if they are backed by twenty-five years of flight experience. Four years before the program is scheduled to end, NASA officials still consider the shuttle an "experimental vehicle." According to Wayne Hale, NASA's shuttle program manager, "this is a risky vehicle to fly...There are a number of things that can cause a bad outcome with this vehicle. What we have done is...try to reduce the risk."

Two years and $1.5 billion in modifications later, NASA launched Discovery last summer, only to discover that large chunks of foam again peeled away from the tank. That crew landed safely, but only pure luck prevented another accident, engineers said. "We have made the largest aerodynamic change to this tank that we have ever made since we began flying 25 years ago," Hale said.

If, God forbid, another major incident occur, NASA's run might just come to an end. According to John Logsdon, one of the members of the board that investigated the Columbia tragedy and director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University - "another major incident would probably lead to the [permanent] grounding of the fleet".

Even amidst unsure and risky scenarios, Discovery's astronauts said they still have faith in the shuttle and in NASA engineers. STS-121 mission specialist Lisa Nowak said, "it's been a long wait, but it's worth the wait...I feel that we're prepared and ready to go." We wish them all the luck in the world, they will surely need it.