Space Woman Arrested For Attempted Murder In "Astronaut Love Triangle"

She drove over a thousand miles to confront another astrogirl who was a rival for the affections of an astrostud, wearing diapers on the drive down so that she wouldn't have to pull over for bathroom breaks.

I'm not a space historian, but I believe this is the first time for this sort of thing. Though I hear Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong used to have screaming hissy-fits about who got to sleep next to Michael Collins in the lunar orbiter.

Florida authorities were planning to charge a NASA astronaut with attempted first-degree murder charges for allegedly attacking a woman that she considered her rival for the love of another astronaut, officials said today.

Jail spokesman Allen Moore told Associated Press that Orlando police were in the process of filing the more serious charge against Navy Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak [now filed -- Ace], who flew last summer on a shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

Nowak, who was scheduled to have been released today after being granted bail on earlier battery and attempted kidnapping charges, will now remain in custody in light of the more serious charges, Moore said.

Nowak was arrested early Monday after driving nearly 1,000 miles from her home in Houston to intercept the woman, who was just arriving at Orlando International Airport, police said.

Nowak, 43, accosted 30-year-old Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman in a parking lot and sprayed her with pepper spray in an attempt to kidnap her, according to a police affidavit.

The arrest, first reported by the Orlando Sentinel, was an embarrassment for America's space agency, which for nearly five decades has obsessively portrayed its astronauts as paragons of personal integrity.

Police said Nowak considered Shipman a romantic rival for Navy Cmdr. William A. Oefelein, 41, who flew on the most recent shuttle mission in November.

Nowak, who is married with three children, was arrested on felony charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, and misdemeanor charges of destruction of evidence and simple battery, according to Orlando Police Sgt. Kathryn Sullivan.

James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said this was the first case he was aware of in which an active-duty astronaut had been charged with a felony.

He said that Nowak's status as an astronaut "is unchanged; I cannot speculate on what may happen in the future."

"There is a feeling that it is all very unfortunate for the families involved," he said.

Hartsfield said all astronauts go through rigorous psychological and physical testing. But, he said, "we don't track the personal lives of the individuals that work for the agency."

..l.

At the time of her arrest, Nowak was carrying a black bag containing a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, a BB gun, 3 feet of rubber tubing and several garbage bags. A wig was found in a plastic bag in a nearby trash bin.

A wig and a trechcoat, FoxNews now says. Inconspicuous-like.

Police said Nowak drove from Houston wearing diapers so she would not have to stop to relieve herself, the Associated Press reported. Shuttle astronauts wear diapers during launch and reentry.

Some people get lost in The Black and never really come back the same. Like Nietsche said about the abyss.

posted by Ace at 02:13 PM

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