I heard a lot of crazy stories, and saw some crazy things, during my time in the Shuttle Program but most of those stories are funny. This one is not:
A NASA astronaut is being held without bail after police say she attacked her rival for another astronaut’s attention at Orlando International Airport Monday.
Lisa Marie Nowak drove more than 12 hours from Texas to meet the 1 a.m. flight of a younger woman who had also been seeing the astronaut Nowak pined for, according to Orlando police.
Nowak — who was a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle Discovery flight last summer — was wearing a trench coat and wig and had a knife, BB pistol, and latex gloves in her car, reports show. They also found diapers, which Nowak said she used so she wouldn’t have to stop on the 1,000-mile drive. Reports show that after U.S. Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman’s flight arrived, Nowak followed her to the airport’s Blue Lot for long-term parking, tried to get into Shipman’s car and then doused her with pepper spray.
You can read the affadavit here.
There’s no excuse for what she’s done but it appears that this woman has some significant mental health issues. If that’s the case the astronaut corps will probably be supportive of all involved.
Lisa Nowak:
JSC bio
Wikipedia Bio
9 Responses
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February 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I thought you had to be smart to be an astronaut.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Astronaut Turns out to be Space Cadet…
It’s all over a man. When is it ever not over a man?
I watched most of the bail hearing for Astronaut U.S. Navy Captain Lisa Nowak this afternoon and it struck me that the prosecutor was as incompetent as Nowak was incontinent. The judge seemed t…
February 7th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
this lady is real crazy. I don’t know how she passed the crazy test that NASA was suppose to have given her. You must be ill if your willing to drive 900-1000 miles in a pissy diaper to kill the lady over driving a damn shuttle to space, or whatever it was for. Thats plain pscho. Risking your freedom for something so pety.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
That BiiTCH IS SO FUKiiN PSYCHO
February 8th, 2007 at 10:16 am
When they finally get around to doing an in-depth study of this woman, they will find she is BiPolar. Being BiPolar can be a well hidden disease. But when the person is cut to the core, that’s when it shows up.
This person was not in her right mind as you can tell from her actions. She was in her ‘Manic’ state. And in the Manic state, you are not aware of your actions fully. You are drven by adrenelin only. You stop knowing right from wrong and all your juices are on HIGH.
More psychiatric testing needs to be done on those who are in higher poitions, or have many demands on them, as she did. Her love for the man was overwhelming. She acted on impulse as many bipolar people do, when in the manic state.
Yes, she planned everything out, the manic state allows you to do that. It’s all you concentrate on. It’s an illness that many do not understand, but can end in deadly results.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
“From Whom Much is Given, Much is Expected.” Bi polar or not, it seems like she got everything she could ever want — valedictorian, appointment to Annapolis, advanced degrees, home, family, Space Shuttle Mission — one thing denied — Bam! Can’t handle it.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Anybody that can go through four years of hell at Annapolis is NOT mentally unstable…she didn’t melt down, BEFORE doing this…she never figured on getting CAUGHT!
Don’t get sucked in here…an Annapolis grad and Navy Captain is NOT a mentally unstable individual! This woman is tough as they come! Mental? uh no.
No moral fibre? Absolutely! Sense of entitlement!
Randy “Duke” Cunninghap, a celebreted Viet Nam air ace, a hero…by every measure…Top Gun grad…became a congressman…then became a crook…”Entitled”…Randy is not Mentally ill, neither is THIS woman! They broke laws! That is why they are in trouble! Randy is serving 8 years for his “mistakes”.
Let’s not assume that the US Navy and NASA select losers for their programs and their officer corps…trust me, these folks are mentally tough as they come…morally? They NEVER thought they would get caught!
That’s all…usually there is a high degree of personal honor among officers of all military organizations but I remember a tailhook convention where Navy Lt. Paula Coughlin was grouped sexually by a group of navy and USMC pilots…she should have been COMPLETELY SAFE in that company of men! She wasn’t!
Unbelievable! But true!
March 5th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
The photos tell it all, don’t they? Good versus evil. When is the real story going to be told by the press? A married woman with three children has a selfish affair with another man, leaves her husband, and retaliates against yet another woman involved with the same man.
Why try to pass off as “bi-polar” or “wacko” what is simply sin. I know that’s not a politically acceptable term in our “enlightened society”, but that’s what it is. Sin has been around a long time, and we humans seem to keep re-learning about the all-too-painful consequences of disobeying the codes of morality as outlined in the Bible.
In the times I’ve tried to live both in the good and evil worlds, I’ve always got caught, and the consequences were always painful, and normally hurt many innocent victims.
Instead of being gleeful, I feel deep compassion for Lisa Marie Nowak, and I hope she ultimately grows from this painful experience.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
‘Disobeying the codes of morality in the bible’??? Have you actually red the book??? Obviously not very carefully I see. You’re worse than the idiot who was saying manic depressive individuals don’t know what they are doing or have control over their actions when in the manic stage. First off people with bi polar disorder live life in one of two stages, depending on how severe the illness is. But that doesn’t mean they are unable to control their actions, they feel depressed some times and incredibly upbeat and energetic others, where did you get that crap about adrenaline driving their actions? Thats just dumb and if you want to try to talk about metal health issues I recomend you pick up a copy of Grays Anatomy and a few books on neurology then lock yourself in a room to read cover to cover…
As for this ‘moral guideline’ crap, have you looked at your gods ‘moral guidelines’ yet???
I like the part where he says that innocent and good people will burn and suffer in eternal torment because they worship budah or allah…thats compassion for you…
how can you buy into a god whos so self centered and narcasistic that he would punish innocent people because they don’t praise him??? doesn’t it strike you as odd that your bible claims he gave us free will, but then he’d going to punish you for using free will??? Thats like me telling my children they can do anything they want then beating them when they eat chocolate cake for dinner…The Jewish religion beats the hell out of your second rate christian religion, they beleive everyone is punished for what they did wrong, but even atheists and other religions get into heaven when the debt of their sin has been paid…
if your god is the right god i’d rather have nothing to do with him…I beleive in a personal one on one spiritual relationship with the allmighty…
also read through your bible again…you’ll notice that theres nothing in there about pushing your religion on other people, we have the freedom to choose, unless the christians decide they want to use violence and force to convert…and when you don’t do that you use scar tactics…
the very history of your religion is flawed, the gnostic scrolls were only found recently in human history and the church decided what to put in and what to throw away…
you really want an interesting read? find a translation online of ‘The book of Bartabus’ it was one of the gnostic scrolls that they decided to keep out of the bible for good PR. It preaches genocide, telling everyone that a good christian is the one that goes out and kills jews…and that if you don’t take part in the genocide that you’ll go to hell…
so…how many jews have you killed lately??? you think you’ll still get into heaven with that number???
the truth is that even the main books of the bible were written long after the BC AD changeover so right off the bat you’re working with outdated inaccurate information…
I can write a book about the life of a cival war vet but that doesn’t mean it’s accurate, expecially during a time when written records were minimal. you should really read some about the history of that fantasy novel you base your whole life on…