Posted on 02/09/2007 9:24:42 AM PST by Fitzcarraldo
AS A FORMER NASA astronaut training manager responsible for crew training for shuttle missions, I was not entirely surprised by the initial reports of the sad, bizarre case of Lisa Marie Nowak.
This isn't the first case of astronauts having difficulties in their personal lives. Usually, the straying astronaut simply resigns or retires, and everything is hushed up. But being charged with assault, attempted kidnapping and attempted murder is far greater than anything I ever observed or imagined could occur. Perhaps this tragedy will bring some of the agency's long-ignored problems into the open.
First is the tremendous and unnecessary pressures brought to bear on the members of NASA's cloistered astronaut office. This is the division at the Johnson Space Center in Houston where the astronauts work. It is the office that assigns each astronaut his or her job. Since most astronauts are waiting to be put on a mission, these jobs — such as working on the shuttle hydraulic system or sitting in on meetings about a new science payload — are important, but they're usually no more difficult than the ones accomplished routinely by other NASA engineers and scientists. The difference is the astronauts come under constant scrutiny by their management to determine who will fly and who will not. Some never get assigned to a space mission, yet they are called astronauts as long as they work for NASA.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Too much Tang. Or not enough.
"I agree with you completely. I think this woman might well have detonated no matter what her occupation was. Of course, if she hadn't been an astronaut, it probably wouldn't have made the national news."
The diapers would have put her on the news.
Of course - if she weren't an astronaut, she probably wouldn't have worn diapers.
Is there a DEPENDS PING LIST we can use to notify all interested in this subject?
More decades old space buses for everybody!! Everybody should get a chance to ride into space on old technology. It's only 'fair'...
Does it make sense to have this many overachievers all walking on eggs, vying for such a limited number of slots? Only in a dysfunctional bureaucracy like NASA's astronaut office, which keeps hiring more astronauts than it needs
Wha..wha...what? NASA has a dysfunctional bureaucracy within it? Nah, couldn't be.
What made her crack? Don't know, don't care. But she did it on my dime (and literally billions of other wasted dimes). The only thing I see the author suggesting here is shuffling around deck chairs on a bureaucratic behemoth that is falling behind the times so that everyone working there 'feels' better.
ping
ping
the big question is why would a woman who is accomplished and intelligent(which you HAVE to be to be an astronaut) would throw it all away on an ugly guy and a trailer trash love triangle??
is no one immune???
She was a total fruitcake.
Astronaut butt?
Your image reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6xJzAYYrX8
Pinback: All right, bomb. Prepare to receive new orders. Bomb#20: You are false data. Pinback: Hmmm? Bomb #20: Therefore I shall ignore you. Pinback: Hello...bomb? Bomb #20: False data can act only as a distraction. Therefore, I shall refuse to perceive. Pinback: Hey, bomb?! Bomb #20: The only thing that exists is myself. Pinback: Snap out of it, bomb. Bomb #20: In the beginning there was darkness. And the darkness was without form and void. Pinback: Umm. What the hell is he talking about? Bomb? Bomb #20: And in addition to the darkness there was also me. And I moved upon the face of the darkness and I saw that I was alone. Pinback: Hey.....bomb? Bomb #20: Let There Be Light. [He detonates]
I'm not so sure about this any more. I've worked for 2 former astronauts and one drove the company right into the ground and the other was so indecisive he set the program back over a year. Both left everyone scratching their heads and asking each other, "Van Allen Belt?"
So do we start calling her Lisa "The Crack" Nowak, and do we refer to as a crack astronaut?
Anything like, what makes a junky smoke crack?
Just a possible explanation, not an excuse. Plenty of working single moms don't assault other women competing for a boyfriend!
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