Coffee Crone: Taming Coffee Blog

March 2 2007

Spaced in Space

I just read a report on CNN about how NASA will deal with unstable astronauts in space. I take some small amount of comfort in the fact that the spokesperson resisted the temptation to use a female pronoun.

It turns out NASA has detailed, written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. The documents, obtained this week by The Associated Press, say the astronaut's crewmates should bind his wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary.

"Talk with the patient while you are restraining him," the instructions say. "Explain what you are doing, and that you are using a restraint to ensure that he is safe."

The instructions do not spell out what happens after that. But NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the space agency, a flight surgeon on the ground and the commander in space would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to abort the flight, in the case of the shuttle, or send the astronaut home, if the episode took place on the international space station.

The crew members might have to rely in large part on brute strength to subdue an out-of-control astronaut, since there are no weapons on the space station or the shuttle. A gun would be out of the question; a bullet could pierce a spaceship and kill everyone.

I guess that means a gun would be an acceptable method if only the person identified as psychotic were killed or injured.

Now, it's actually a serious issue, and one for which there is no easy answer, though I'm somewhat surprised that given the nature of US politics, the solution doesn't involve prayer and the casting out of demons.