Over the past week people have been shocked to find out that astronauts are human beings and that some of them have a drinking problem.

The cynical answer, of course, is "of course they are drunks, they aren't allowed to do drugs!" That was also true during my long career as an airline pilot. I knew dozens of pilots with drinking problems but not one who I knew was doing drugs. In the military, where most astronauts and many airline pilots  come from, people are checked constantly for drug use. They are never checked for alcohol abuse.

Professional pilots will agree that there is very little to do in a strange city motel other than go to happy hour or dinner with the rest of the crew and drink. Most people handle the drinking well and know when to stop. The alcoholics, by definition, don't.

I can only imagine the pressure that today's NASA astronaut is constantly under. If they are lucky, they get a shot at maybe two missions during their career. They spend immense amounts of time away from their families and are under the tightest scrutiny when it comes to  their appearance and behavior.

We as a nation are still suffering from the cold war sentiment that our astronauts need to be steely-eyed rocket men. We need to learn to accept the idea that our space flight crews are people first and astronauts second.

Drunk astronauts is an embarrassment for NASA but I hope they look beyond their shame and examine why an astronaut who had spent his or her life preparing for a single mission would risk it all to have a drink. In my opinion, drunk astronauts means that NASA has a sickness.