14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at NASA announce that the organization is again conducting a federal investigation on its Florida facility, after a small bag containing powdery cocaine was discovered at the spaceport.
According to early reports, field tests conducted on the white substance when it was discovered indicated that it was cocaine. The bag containing the stuff is now being handled by a professional testing lab, for further confirmation.
The American space agency has already launched an investigation into the matter, but says that it will not disclose the course of action it will take in finding those responsible for smuggling the illicit substances on the premises.
There are currently no further details available for the press. Officials did not disclose where the cocaine was found at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the home of the space shuttle fleet.
NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) expert Renee Juhans say that 4.2 grams of the substance were discovered on the premises, but provided no additional details to the discovery. He says that the OIG will pursue the matter vigorously.
The organization has a strict, zero-tolerance policy for drug use on the facility, where advanced technology is handled daily, and where even a minor slip-up can have catastrophic results.
“Law enforcement personnel field tested the substance – which indicated a positive test for cocaine. The substance is now at an accredited crime lab for further testing,” Juhans tells Space in an email.
“Anything found would be turned over to a federal prosecutor,” adds Allard Beutel, a NASA spokesman. This is not the first time that NASA discovers drugs at its Florida spaceport.
A similar instance occurred in January 2010, when another bag containing powdery cocaine was discovered in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), where the space shuttle was being processed.
The subsequent investigation did not produce any tangible leads. All 200 workers who had access to the hangar were rigorously tested for drug use, but none of them came back positive for cocaine.
NASA was forced to drop the investigation without pressing legal charges, but now it's determined to go all the way in discovering who is guilty in the new case. All KSC workers are for example subjected to a policy where random drug tests can be conducted at any time.
“We're subject to federal government guidelines, and there are a fair number of positions that have that prerequisite ahead of time and also require it randomly,” Beutel says of the policy.
This is the second mishap to hit the KSC in just two days. Yesterday, a worker died falling from an overhead pass, while working at Launch Pad 39A to get shuttle Endeavor ready for its final flight.