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Reply With QuoteJust goes to show, anyone can be bat-shit crazy.
Love triangle involving three astronauts lead to attempted murder charge
Police Reports Say Lisa Nowak Wore a Disguise and Drove 900 Miles for Attempted Kidnapping
NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, will face a first-degree attempted murder charge, an authority in Florida said Tuesday. Nowak was arrested Monday and has already appeared in court for allegedly attempting to kidnap a woman she believed was involved in a love triangle with another astronaut she loved. (AP Photo)
By Gina Sunseri
Feb. 6, 2007 The NASA astronaut who allegedly tried to kidnap a woman involved in a bizarre love triangle with another astronaut will also face an attempted first-degree murder charge, an official said Tuesday.
The additional charge was announced after Lisa Nowak appeared in court Tuesday morning to face attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, and destruction of evidence and battery charges.
Originally, a judge agreed to release Nowak, who flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery last July, after she posted a $15,500 bond and agreed to wear a tracking device and stay away from the alleged victim.
An Orange County jail spokesman, however, said that Orlando police were in the process of adding the more serious charge that the 43-year-old astronaut tried to kill the woman involved in the incident.
During the morning proceedings, chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, who flew with Nowak, testified that Nowak would return to Houston.
"Our primary concern is her health and well-being, and that she get through this," Lindsey said after the hearing. "Her status [with the astronaut corps] has not changed."
Nowak was also joined by another astronaut, Chris Ferguson.
The astronaut's arrest has baffled many who know her and work with her at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
A Navy commander and the married mother of a teenage son and twin 5-year-old girls, Nowak has logged more than 1,500 flight hours in 30 different aircraft.
The accuser is a woman who Nowak believed was romantically involved with fellow astronaut Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, according to police.
Investigators are piecing together an assortment of evidence, including love letters and e-mails, that suggests a love triangle between the three.
The details in the affidavit portray a woman who was obsessed over a real or imagined relationship with Oefelein, who flew on the last shuttle mission in December.
Cross-Country Drive, Wearing Diapers
Police say that Nowak left Houston and drove 900 miles to the Orlando Airport, reportedly stopping only for gas and wearing adult diapers so she wouldn't have to stop to urinate.
At the airport, she waited for the return flight of Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who she believed was her rival for Oefelein's affections.
Nowak wore a trench coat and a wig to disguise herself, and carried pepper spray and a BB gun. She trailed Shipman to her car and attempted to enter the car, but Shipman drove to a parking lot booth and called the police.
From the police affidavit:
"Lisa Marie Nowak (Arrestee) drove from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida in order to meet Colleen Shipman (victim) at the Orlando International Airport. Once Shipman arrived at the airport, Nowak followed Shipman to the blue lot where Shipman had parked her car. As Shipman gets into her car, Lisa Marie Nowak approaches Shipman's car, slaps the window, and tries to open the door. When Shipman will not open the door, Nowak begins to cry. Shipman cracks the window of her car at which time Nowak sprays pepper spray into the vehicle. Shipman is able to drive away from Nowak and ask for the Police. Nowak and Shipman were both in a relationship with another Astronaut. Nowak felt that she needed to meet with Shipman and discuss the details of their relationship with the male Astronaut."
After Shipman called the police, officers saw Nowak stuff a garbage bag into a trash can at the airport.
Inside the bag, they found a wig, trench coat, a BB pistol, a new steel mallet, a new folding knife with a four-inch blade, three to four feet of rubber tubing, several plastic garbage bags, and about $600 in cash.
Was There a Relationship?
Nowak and Oefelein did not fly on the same space shuttle mission, but they trained together for 11 days in 2002 at a Canadian army cold-weather survival camp.
Friends and colleagues are baffled over the allegations. One astronaut told ABC News that the astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center was "totally, totally stunned. Everyone is just stunned."
Nowak is scheduled to be a capcom capsule communicator on the next space shuttle mission, STS 117, which is targeted for a March 15 launch date.
Will she be suspended?
No one at the Johnson Space Center is saying anything beyond confirming that Nowak is currently on active status. No one remembers a scandal of this proportion in recent memory in the astronaut corps.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report
Source: ABC News: Astronaut to Face Attempted Murder Charge
And Tony Nelson thought he had problems with Jeannie.
Scariest Halloween mask ever > > >
Just goes to show, anyone can be bat-shit crazy.
I thought they gave astronauts tons and tons of psychological testing? Either she's even smarter than she is crazy.....or going to space unhinged the woman.....
From what I read, she said that her relationship with the male astronaut (who is married with kids) was "not romantic, but more than a working relationship." Could be that she is a stalker and never had a romance with the guy at all.....I pity the poor man trying to explain all this to his wife.....
Has anybody ever tried to have sex in space ?
how sad and pathetic. it just goes to show that love and heartsick can make n the most successful or intelligent or sane or rational or experienced ppl crazy!i can sympathize with her so much!
I was just watching CNN and they said that she KILLED this chick....that she murdered the other chick. FUCKED UP!!!
How long before a tacky made-for-TV movie is based on this?
Meh, CNN just wants a juicier story.
Parenthood.com did a story on her a couple of years ago about juggling career and family. Houston Moms in High-Profile Jobs Balance Work and Family Issues Daily - Parenthood.com
"The howling backwoods that is IMDB is where film criticism goes to die (and then have its corpse gang-raped, called a racist, and accused of supporting Al-Qaeda)" ----Sean O'Neal, The Onion AV Club
Sorry, my mistake, must have misread or misunderstood what CNN was saying. Just went on their website and it's still attempted murder charges.
DAMN I could have sworn they said she killed the bitch.
Regardless, just freaking bizarre. Adult diapers?
how does spraying someone with mase = attempted murder?!
cops do it all the time
It just comes to show that jealous bitches will be jealous bitches, whether they're trailer trash high school drop-outs or overly-educated astronauts.
Fighting over men is just ridiculously pathetic and LOW.
Driving across five states in shitty diapers is hard core.
What are you looking at, sugar-tits? - Mel Gibson
Do they wear diapers in space? Maybe she's use to them.
i think this only happens when people love with too much attachment tho..you know..and maybe confuse egoic wanting/addiction with real love...one theory on this kind of thing..Originally Posted by AliceInWonderland
how sad and pathetic. it just goes to show that love and heartsick can make n the most successful or intelligent or sane or rational or experienced ppl crazy!
Ha! Precisely. This woman is guano crazy. Lovesick/heartbroken/vengeful my ass. She needs to read that book "He's Just Not That Into You." How sad is it to go to these lengths over a man and a relationship she probably invented? It's scary how people get their identities so wrapped up in other people.
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