What to do when astronauts go nuts?
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.
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.
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