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A panel reviewing health issues at Nasa has found that US astronauts have been allowed to fly while intoxicated at least twice, an aviation magazine says. The panel also found heavy alcohol use within the 12-hour “bottle to throttle” ban for flight crew, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology.

The independent panel is due to present its findings later on Friday. Nasa has declined to comment on the allegations.

Separately, Nasa confirmed that a contractor had sabotaged a computer.

The damage to wiring in a network box - which is to be taken to the International Space Station (ISS) - was intentional and obvious, the agency said.

However, it stressed that the equipment was not essential and that astronauts’ lives had not been at risk. An investigation is under way.

Warnings

Meanwhile the health panel is preparing to announce its conclusions.

It was set up following the arrest on kidnapping and assault charges of Nasa astronaut Lisa Nowak in February.

The damage is very obvious, easy to detect William Gerstenmaier Nasa Associate Administrator for Space Operations In graphics: Space station

She is accused of attacking her love rival, the girlfriend of a fellow astronaut.

The panel’s findings do not deal with Ms Nowak directly or mention any other crew by name.

According to Aviation Week, the panel found that on at least two occasions astronauts flew after doctors and fellow astronauts had warned that they were intoxicated and posed a flight-safety risk.

The report did not say when the alleged incidents took place, or whether they involved pilots.

Regarding the sabotage allegations, Nasa’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations, William Gerstenmaier, said the computer problem had been discovered earlier this month.

“The damage is very obvious, easy to detect,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It’s not a mystery to us.”

Mr Gerstenmaier said wires had been found cut inside the unit before it had been loaded onto the shuttle.

The computer is designed to collect and relay data from sensors which detect vibrations and forces on the space station’s external trusses.

The equipment had been supplied by a sub-contractor, he added.

Mr Gerstenmaier said engineers would try to repair the hardware before 7 August, when the space shuttle Endeavour is due to fly to ISS, but that the mission would not be delayed.

The damage is believed to be the first act of sabotage of flight equipment Nasa has discovered.

Astronauts working on the space station

The space flights at the centre of the claims have not been revealed

A couple facing a two-year prison sentence for forcing some of their 11 adopted special-needs children to sleep in cages hope to get the children back.

Michael and Sharen Gravelle were sentenced in February on four felony child endangering charges and seven misdemeanors. The couple are free on bond pending appeal.

“We still have an inside shot at getting our children back, which was our goal and we still stand by that,” Michael Gravelle said Wednesday in the couple’s first public comments since they were sentenced.

The Gravelles’ children, who ranged in age from 1 to 14, suffered from problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items.

Authorities removed them in September 2005 from their home in Wakeman, about 60 miles west of Cleveland. The children were placed in foster care in fall 2005.

Sharen Gravelle said she thinks often about the children who the couple said they took in because no one else wanted to do so. “I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye,” she said.

The chance of the couple getting the children back appears remote. About three weeks ago, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal of the custody case that put the children into foster care.

Michael Gravelle repeated his past comments that he and his wife made enclosed beds for the safety of the troubled children they adopted.

“They built a case on a lie, 11 kids locked in cages,” he said. “It was not true.”

A jury heard evidence, including testimony from the children, that the Gravelles put them, sometimes for punishment, in small wood-and-wire enclosures.

The Gravelles are out of money for the legal battle and are hopeful they will receive financial support to fight what they say is an unfair conviction.

They say they’re working part-time jobs and have tried without success to sell the house where Michael Gravelle built what prosecutors called cages in the upstairs bedrooms.

Auctioneer Steven Kraus said he is planning an auction July 20 aimed at raising $50,000 for the Gravelles and is seeking donations of items and cash contributions. He believes in the couple’s innocence.

Michael and Sharen Gravelle answer questions during a news-conference, Wednesday, July 11, 2007, in Norwalk, Ohio. Facing a two-year prison sentence and out of money to fund their appeal, the Gravelles, convicted of child endangering for making some of their adopted children sleep in cages, are looking for public help in financing their legal battle. Although the Gravelles drew worldwide scorn for their treatment of their 11 special-needs children, they’re hopeful they will receive support in fighting what they say is an unfair conviction. (Tony Dejak/AP Photo)