News of NASA’s investigation into whether astronauts have been intoxicated before launch in the past has apparently filtered its way up to the International Space Station.

This week, NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson amended his celebratory comments after successfully cleaning a filter on the station’s U.S. carbon dioxide removal assembly, known as CDRA.

“Terrance, my man, you owe me a beer,” Anderson said after the job well done.

“How about a pitcher?” Mission Control replied.

“I’m sorry, a root beer in light of this week’s activities,” Anderson said. “A root beer would be fine.”

While all in good fun - especially since beer and other alcoholic beverages are not flown aboard the ISS - the Tuesday exchange between Anderson and Mission Control does highlight the sensitivity of astronauts in flight to the issues NASA faces on Earth.

Last week, an independent panel on NASA’s astronaut health care system reported that it found two accounts of astronauts allegedly intoxicated within the 12-hour period before liftoff. One report involved a spaceflyer preparing to launch aboard a shuttle that scrubbed, who later flew aboard a NASA T-38 jet back to Houston. The second report involved an astronaut preparing for a Soyuz launch to the space station.

NASA is investigating both allegations to determine what actually happened and when, while officials for Russia’s Federal Space Agency have denied any instances of preflight drunkenness among those flying aboard its spacecraft.

In any event, Anderson’s comments with Mission Control does reveal that while astronauts may be busy living and working in space, they’re still in tune with the rest of us back here on Earth.

Earlier today, NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Pam Melroy - veteran spaceflyers and commanders of future station and shuttle missions, respectively - told reporters in NASA TV interviews today that they would not tolerate any type of drinking or drunkenness on their crews just before launch. The allegations, they said, have not proved too much of a distraction to the astronaut corps overall, and their own crews remain focused for their missions later this year.

Whitson will command the next space station mission, Expedition 16 with Anderson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and is due to launch in early October. Melroy is NASA’s only remaining female space shuttle commander following last year’s retirement of former astronaut Eileen Collins. She will lead NASA’s STS-120 shuttle flight aboard Discovery to deliver the new Harmony connecting node to the space station.

The joint Expedition 16-STS-120 mission will mark the first time two female spacecraft commanders have led missions in orbit at the same time.