August 4 News Items

Editorial: One Giant Gulp for NASA (Source: Palm Beach Post)
The space industry pumps close to $2 billion annually into the state's economy, so Floridians have a lot riding on NASA's success. Lately, they've had a lot to worry about. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff went a long way toward correcting the misconception that astronauts always lead straight-arrow lives. The recent antics at NASA have pretty much dashed the idea for good.

Astronaut Lisa Nowak redefined love-sick lunacy when she drove from Texas to Florida to confront her rival in an astro-triangle. Ms. Nowak's meltdown led to the creation of a review panel to learn more about astronauts' physical and mental health. The panel found that at least two astronauts indulged in the "heavy use of alcohol" hours before their missions lifted off. Making matters worse, the GAO found NASA lost $94 million worth of equipment during the past decade. Employees gave government laptops to their kids and spouses, and the agency had no clue. Then came the disclosure that a space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard the shuttle Endeavour next week. The bad behavior leaves an impression that is unbecoming an agency that depends a lot on projecting the right imagery for its survival.

Crew members and program employees who complained about the drinking say they were ignored. NASA says that won't happen again. But NASA has a poor record of self-correction and responding to criticism within its ranks. The Challenger and Columbia disasters might have been averted had NASA done a better job of listening to its people. As the nation considers huge investments in new vehicles and destinations for space flight, NASA can't afford a frat-house image. For 2 billion reasons, Florida can't afford to see that happen, either.

Phoenix Launched on Mission to Mars (Source: SpaceToday.net)
A Delta 2 successfully launched NASA's latest mission to the Red Planet on Saturday morning. The rocket lifted off from pad 17A at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport carrying NASA's Phoenix Mars lander spacecraft. Phoenix separated from the rocket's third stage nearly 90 minutes after liftoff, following a Mars trajectory injection burn. There were no problems with the countdown and launch, although telemetry acquisition problems during some phases of the launch made it difficult to ascertain the status of the mission.