Worker Finds Cocaine in KSC Shuttle Facility

On Tuesday, a NASA worker discovered a small bag of a white powdery stuff near a bathroom at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral, Florida. On-site analysis and later tests confirmed the substance was cocaine. What makes this discovery very worrying is the fact that the small amount of the drug was discovered at the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), which is the place where the American space shuttles undergo their final preparations before being shipped out to the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), to be mated with their external fuel tanks and the mobile launch platform.

“This is a rare and isolated incident, and I'm disappointed that it happened, but it should not detract from the outstanding work that is being done by a dedicated team on a daily basis. We are conducting an investigation and working with center security and law enforcement officials to get to the bottom of it,” Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Bob Cabana said of the incident. He revealed that the OPF hangar where the drugs had been discovered was a highly restricted area, and that only highly skilled workers with direct ties to shuttle maintenance and diagnostics were allowed in.

A total of about 200 individuals (workers and contractors) had access to the OPF, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told Space. Drug tests have been done on all of them since Wednesday, but, until now, there has been no clear indicator that any of them has been working in the hangar under the influence of narcotics. At this point, the shuttle Discovery is being handled in the facility, as it is preparing for its upcoming March launch. “We have processes that will ensure the integrity of the shuttle. There is no reason whatsoever to believe this incident will have any impact on Discovery's upcoming launch,” Cabana added.

NASA officials also said that anyone caught for drug use or possession at the KSC would be harshly punished. “NASA, as well as all of our contractors, has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal drug use. This is being taken very seriously,” Beutel revealed. Officials at the agency and authorities are looking into how the drug got into the OPF, and also into where the substance itself came from. These two fronts are being pursued at the same time, for maximum efficiency.

In addition, the American space agency is highly concerned with the safety of its aging space-shuttle fleet. It aims to keep them in the best shape imaginable at all times, and it will most likely punish severely anyone trying to sabotage the efforts. The situation is made even more delicate by the fact that these three spacecraft are unique, and they represent our only means of carrying large-scale objects to the ISS for the next five to six years.