Astronaut Arrested In Attempted Kidnap

Last summer, astronaut Lisa Nowak was soaring 220 miles above Earth, floating in the rarefied air of the international space station.

The 43-year-old robotics specialist was in quite a different place Monday night: A dingy jail among suspected drug dealers and prostitutes.

A Florida judge Tuesday released Nowak on a $15,500 bond and ordered her to wear a GPS tracking device. The judge also told Nowak she was prohibited from contacting the alleged victim.

Nowak, a married mother of three who police believe was in a love triangle with a fellow astronaut, was charged with trying to abduct a woman she saw as her romantic rival, authorities said.

"It looks like it was a fairly elaborate plan and we believe that she was probably going to try to kidnap the victim and, you know, possibly do serious bodily harm," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, a spokeswoman for the Orlando Police Department, reports Jessica D'Onofrio of CBS affiliate WKMG-TV.

Nowak faces charges including attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery.

Police said she drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein.

Nowak and Oefelein, 41, were both first-time fliers during separate shuttle missions last year. They trained together but never flew together.

Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein, who is unmarried, was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to an arrest affidavit. Police officers recovered a love letter to Oefelein in her car.

Nowak believed a woman, Colleen Shipman, was romantically involved with Oefelein, authorities said. When Nowak found out that Shipman was flying to Orlando from Houston, Nowak decided to confront her early Monday, according to the arrest affidavit.

Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers in the car so she wouldn't have to stop to go to the bathroom, authorities said. Astronauts wear diapers during launch and re-entry.

Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, Nowak waited for Shipman's plane to land and then boarded the same airport shuttle bus Shipman took to get to her car, police said. Shipman told police she noticed someone following her, hurried inside the car and locked the doors, according to the arrest affidavit.

Nowak rapped on the window, tried to open the car door and asked for a ride. Shipman refused but rolled down the car window a few inches when Nowak started crying. Nowak then sprayed a chemical into Shipman's car, the affidavit said. Shipman drove to the parking lot booth, and the police were called.

An officer reported following Nowak and watching her throw away a bag containing the wig and BB gun. Police also found a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, rubber tubing, $600 and garbage bags inside a bag Nowak was carrying when she was arrested, authorities said.

It was not immediately known whether Nowak had an attorney. Oefelein and Shipman, who the Houston Chronicle said worked at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center, did not return phone messages Monday night.

Inside Nowak's vehicle, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities uncovered a pepper spray package, an unused BB-gun cartridge, latex gloves and e-mails between Shipman and Oefelein.

They also found a letter "that indicated how much Mrs. Nowak loved Mr. Oefelein," an opened package for a buck knife, Shipman's home address and hand written directions to the address, the arrest affidavit said.

Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship with Oefelein and didn't want to harm her physically.

"If you were just going to talk to someone, I don't know that you would need a wig, a trench coat, an air cartridge BB gun and pepper spray," said Jones. "It's just really a very sad case."

NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston said that, as of Monday, Nowak's status with the astronaut corps remained unchanged. "What will happen beyond that, I will not speculate," he said.

Hartsfield said he couldn't recall the last time an astronaut was arrested and said there were no rules against fraternizing among astronauts.

According to NASA's official biography, Nowak is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who has a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. She has a teenage son and younger twin girls. She rode aboard Discovery in July.

Oefelein piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. He has two children and began his aviation career as a teenager flying floatplanes in Alaska, according to a NASA biography.

He studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and later earned a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. He received a commission as an ensign in the Navy in 1988 and became a naval aviator two years later. He attended the Navy's "Top Gun" fighter school and then became a test pilot instructor before he was selected to be an astronaut in 1998.