This one sentence in the entire article covers the real issue with drinking alcohol in space no matter who you are pilot or passenger.
When is space you need to have your wits about you at all times. You never know when something may go wrong. Even a passenger (tourist) needs to be able to perform emergency procedures that would be necessary to save their own life or that of others.
You can’t get out of the space ship and walk to the next house for help. There are no parachutes. If you are even a little tipsy it may cost you a second or two that may cost you or others their life.
Travel to a space station is not like taking an airliner to a vacation destination. There are procedures for different kinds of emergencies that everyone on board has to know how to deal with in rapid order.
Alcohol slows the mind and can cause confusion. These things can mean quick death in space.
I agree. The ISS, even though it has been in place for so many years, still looks like it could start to fall apart at a moments notice.
I would have to drink to go there. I would have to drink a lot.