I think I've got the right stuff....
Posted on 02/05/2007 5:27:04 PM PST by burzum
A NASA astronaut is charged with attacking her rival for another astronaut's attention early Monday at Orlando International Airport, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
Lisa Marie Nowak drove from Texas to meet the 1 a.m. flight of a younger woman who had also been seeing the male astronaut Nowak pined for, according to Orlando police.
Nowak -- who was a mission specialist on a Discovery launch last summer -- was wearing a trench coat and wig and had a knife, BB pistol, rubber tubing and plastic bags, reports show. Once U.S. Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman arrived, Nowak followed her to the airport's Blue Lot for long-term parking, tried to get into Shipman's car and doused her with pepper spray, according to reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Terminate NASA, and start fresh in a year or two; after they have sorted all of the Federal driftwood out of the system.
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I think it will take longer than that! I regularly interview engineering candidates from NASA/JPL/other supposedly elite governmental agencies. I always thought those agencies hired the best and the brightest; boy was I wrong!
I'm mildly surprised they manage to get anything done, but then there must be a few good people left there to keep the boats afloat.
I think I've got the right stuff....
I guess Air Force is going to win this game.
Borderline personality disorder could be the condition, instead of crystal meth.
Don't ask me how I know.......
Well if some one tied a two foot piece of tubing around your neck, you might have a little problem with breathing. Same with a plastic bag over the head.
That's what her official biography lists her as. She must have been promoted recently, however, because most references give her rank as Commander.
Ms. Nowak has 5 year old twins and a 14 year old son.
Houston Moms in High-Profile Jobs Balance Work and Family Issues Daily
There’s no such thing as a typical work week for Lisa Nowak, and that’s just fine with her. The mother of three children is a U.S. Navy commander and NASA astronaut.
“One day I may be flying in a T-38 to Kennedy Space Center, where we launch space shuttles, to take a look at the hardware our crew will be bringing up to the space station. The next morning I may find myself laying on my back in a motion-base simulator of the shuttle in vertical launch position, waiting for liftoff,” says Nowak.
Lucky for Nowak, her twin 2-year-old daughters, Katrina and Alyssa, have a “wonderful” nanny with lots of experience in childcare caring for them each day. Nowak’s 11-year-old son, Alexander, spends most of his day at school and participating in various activities.
“Being away from home is the hardest part,” says Nowak, who has been an astronaut for seven years and a naval officer for 18. Travel is an essential part of her profession, and Nowak says she has made quite a few trips to Russia, Canada and Japan -- some trips lasting several weeks.
“We go to these places to work with our international partners on space station issues, see the hardware they're building and participate in training,” Nowak says. “We also do a lot of domestic travel.”
To make things a little more complicated, Nowak’s husband, Richard, is a flight controller in Mission Control for the International Space Station. During one of her technical job assignments, which lasted three years, Nowak also worked in Mission Control as a CAPCOM, which once stood for Capsule Communicator – an astronaut who talks directly with the crew orbiting in space in real time.
“We both had to work three- to seven-day shifts with unusual hours – evenings and overnight -- and had to make sure we never got assigned at the same time so that someone was home with the kids,” Nowak says.
Yet, Nowak says her difficulties with juggling schedules are not any different from any other family with two parents working outside the home, “except for the weird hours, perhaps.”
Selected by NASA in April 1996, Nowak reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, she is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Nowak is assigned to the crew of STS-118. The next shuttle mission -- STS-114 -- is scheduled to fly no earlier than September 2004.
Something that most other mothers don’t have to worry about, especially if they’re working in a business setting or other “safe” place, is the danger associated with their jobs. Space travel is a “business with inherent risk,” says Nowak.
“Sometimes people question why a mother would consider this type of job while (her) children are young,” Nowak says, adding that most people don’t seem to have a problem with fathers in the same position. She says she was aware of the risks of her job but became much more aware of them as her son became old enough to understand and talk about it. When her twins were born, Nowak says she became even more conscious of how important a mother is to her children.
“Yet, we all take everyday risks that we don't think about a lot, such as driving in a car,” Nowak says.
Nowak says she is proud to be able to show young people, especially girls, that it is possible to be both a mother and an astronaut. “They are relieved and reassured that they do not necessarily have to choose between the two,” she says.
As for her own children, Nowak says her son thinks her job is “exciting” and “important” and enjoys coming to work with her to see the simulators and mock-ups.
“Katrina and Alyssa are still too young to give their opinion, although ‘star’ is one of their favorite first words,” Nowak says. “They also will all have the opportunity to see that they can choose their own path and have families of their own when the time comes.”
True, dat.
Article just posted is 3 years old.
Tragic
What does he see in her???????
They all weigh the same in space afterall.
Shocking. How sad. Perhaps some medical condition will explain it. People that have been through the NASA selections processes certainly are not prone to this behavior.
I cant help but wonder what could have happened were she and her rival assigned on the same mission.
Scary.
LOL....Im tellin ya Mom...The boy aint right!!
The whole thing could be in her head.
The other astronauts could have had no clue she was nutting out.
Impressive biography. All that training on our tax dollars down the tube. Such a shame. I wonder what caused her to snap? Maybe she has a brain tumor or something.
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