...the VERY wrong stuff...

Astronaut Formally Charged in Bizarre Love Triangle Case
March 2, 2007 — The kidnapping charges formally filed against astronaut Lisa Nowak are still an embarrassment for her bosses at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Prosecutors decided not to file attempted murder charges against Nowak.

Nowak, 43, is accused of attempting to kidnap Colleen Shipman, the woman she perceived as a rival for the affections of fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein. Orlando police say Nowak drove more than 900 miles from her home in Houston to stake out Shipman as she returned from a trip at the airport in Orlando. She dressed in a trench coat, wore a wig and sprayed a chemical in Shipman's face. The details of her drive to Orlando were so bizarre that the incident quickly became the focus of the late night shows.

Sources inside NASA tell ABC News there is concern about the impact the bad publicity and embarrassment of a trial, which would be televised, would have on the space agency. There are suggestions a plea bargain would be beneficial for all parties, to keep the steamy details of the love triangle from being aired live on TV. Some officials have commented, off the record, that they would like to see Nowak simply resign.

She is currently on 30 days medical leave, which expires next week.

NASA spokesman James Hartsfield would not speculate on her future as an astronaut. "We will release a statement if and when her status changes, and will not comment on any matter in the jurisdiction of the courts," he said.

Nowak was scheduled to work in mission control as a capcom on STS 117, the shuttle mission that will fly later this spring, once the external tank is fixed. Astronaut Terry Virts will take her place in mission control.

She flew on the second shuttle flight after the Columbia accident, and was praised for her ability to handle the complicated robotics on that mission.

Nowak and her husband separated last month, a couple of weeks before the alleged kidnapping attempt. She is the mother of a teenage son and twin girls. The charges are baffling to her friends, who are still trying to figure out how the petite, shy woman they know could possibly be involved in such a messy love triangle.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2919275

Makes me wonder about the psych evals done during qualifications.

No matter how adept or disciplined they can become, people are still people.

But they have psych batteries to weed out those who would do something like this and they should have also been under a program of periodic psych evals as well to monitor their mental health and stability.

Those evaluations are usually good at what they do. But my point is, everyone has a breaking point...

Just remembering some of the persons that I served with over the years, I've never had a great deal of faith in psychiatric testing. One old Chief we had used to say, "I've got three pieces of paper signed by psychiatrists to say I'm sane, What about you"? (they were discharge papers from various mental hospitals).

I'm not kidding!!

^^^ Lol

Originally Posted by bulldogg

But they have psych batteries to weed out those who would do something like this and they should have also been under a program of periodic psych evals as well to monitor their mental health and stability.

According to her profile on the NASA page, she was selected for astronut...er, astronaut training back in 1996. NASA has admitted they don't continue with any psych tests once astronauts are in, so a lot can happen in 10, 11 years. Her marriage was probably more stable back then, she hadn't met Oefelein yet (he was selected for astronaut training two years later), etc. NASA's now looking at whether or not to do psych evals periodically on their astronauts.

Yeah just having the guards at the door doesn't really protect you when the occupants run loose for a decade inside the building. What's the old proverb, You learn more from failure than success.