Owner at NASA Hangout Doubts Fliers Were Drunk: ALCOHOL ALLEGATIONS

By Dale Lezon, Houston Chronicle

Jul. 27–Some astronauts may toss down a few alcoholic drinks at parties, but patrons at a favorite NASA eatery near the Johnson Space Center question if any of them rocketed into orbit drunk.

“I don’t believe it,” said Frankie Camera, owner of Frenchie’s Italian Restaurant. The cozy spot is a monument to NASA and astronauts, many of whom have frequented it for years, Camera said.

Framed, signed photographs of smiling astronauts, orbiting space shuttles and rockets rising from billowing fireballs adorn the walls.

Camera said he’s planned and catered banquets for astronauts for years and he’s never seen any drink very much. Even the original seven depicted in the book The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and the film by the same name, never drank excessively that he saw, Camera added.

“The Mercury astronauts may have been a little more wild (than later ones) but I did banquets for them and never really saw any of them drink so much they were out of control or drunk,” he said.

NASA has scheduled a news conference today to discuss the findings of two reports on astronaut medical and behavioral health. One of the reports discovered heavy drinking before launches, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology, a weekly aviation publication that reviewed the findings.

If the report is true, said Chris Clayton, 26, it would shatter his confidence in the space agency. He and Deanna McGregor, 20, who ate lunch together at Frenchie’s Thursday, were stunned about the allegations.

Clayton said he loves sitting in the restaurant and looking at all the NASA mementos.

“I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “You want to have a little faith. … It makes you wonder if they are doing they’re job.”

McGregor said if the revelations are accurate, she wonders if astronauts and others take their jobs seriously.

“I wouldn’t expect that from NASA,” she said. “If you have rules, you’d think you’d abide by them.”

dale.lezon@chron.com

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