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Orlando, Fla. (AP) -- Former astronaut Lisa Nowak is pursuing an insanity defense on charges that she assaulted and tried to kidnap a romantic rival, according to a document released Tuesday. Defense attorney Donald Lykkebak wrote that Nowak suffered from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressors." He noted that the already-petite Nowak had recently lost 15 percent of her body weight. "This notice does not challenge competence to stand trial, but only raises insanity at the time of the offense," . . .

Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) -- Astronaut Lisa Nowak was fired from NASA on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot. NASA officials said Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant. If Nowak were a civil servant, NASA would have the choice of placing her on...

Strong feelings of passion, jealousy can give even most rational astronaut a blind spot of craziness, experts say - This will make a great movie -- "Fatal Attraction From Outer Space." The strange saga of Lisa Marie Nowak, a NASA astronaut who drove 900 miles from Texas to Florida, wearing diapers, to confront the woman she thought was romancing the astronaut she loved, sounds like science fiction. Not only is it true, but at least some psychologists say it makes a kind of weird sense. "This is love gone wrong," says Dr. Louann Brizendine, author of "The Female Brain" and...