Orlando, Fla. – A NASA astronaut is being held without bail after police say she attacked her rival for another astronaut’s attention Monday at Orlando International Airport.
Navy Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, drove more than 12 hours from Houston to meet the 1 a.m. flight of a woman who had been seeing the astronaut Nowak pined for, according to police.
Nowak – a mission specialist on a space shuttle launch last July – was wearing a trench coat and a wig and had a knife, BB pistol and latex gloves in her car, reports show. Police also found diapers, which Nowak said she used so she wouldn’t have to stop on the 1,000-mile drive. Diapers are used on space missions.
A steel mallet, several feet of rubber tubing and hand-written directions to Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman’s home were recovered from Nowak’s car, which was parked at a nearby hotel, reports show.
Reports show that after Shipman’s flight arrived, Nowak followed her to a parking lot, tried to get into Shipman’s car and then doused her with pepper spray.
Shipman drove to the lot booth, and police were called.
Nowak is charged with attempted kidnapping, battery, attempted vehicle burglary with battery and destruction of evidence.
A married mother of three, Nowak told police that she was “involved in a relationship” with Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, a pilot on space shuttle Discovery in December, which she categorized as “more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship,” according to the charging affidavit.
Nowak said she found out Oefelein was involved with Shipman and wanted to talk to Shipman about their relationships with him, reports show.
She told police the BB gun was going to be used to entice Shipman to talk with her.
Shipman told police she was flying home from a visit to Houston.
Nowak’s arrest may be the first-ever felony charges filed on an active-duty astronaut, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Her status as an astronaut with NASA is currently unchanged. I cannot speculate on what might happen beyond that,” said James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Nowak and Oefelein work.
