Astronaut Out On Bail
NASA Astronaut Faces Attempted Murder Charges In Plot Against Romantic Rival
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Play CBS Video Video Astronaut's Love Triangle Woes A NASA astronaut was charged with the attempted murder of her rival. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on Lisa Nowak's entangled love affair that got out of hand.
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Video Analyzing Nowak's Arrest CBS News Space Analyst Bill Harwood talks with Katie Couric about NASA's process of screening potential astronauts.
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Video Love-Struck Astronaut Charged Space shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak has been charged with attempted first-degree murder. She allegedly stalked a rival in a bizarre love triangle involving another astronaut. Drew Levinson reports.
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Lisa Nowak, a NASA astronaut and Navy captain, left, and Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein. Nowak was arrested on Feb. 5, 2007, for attempting to kidnap a woman she believed was romantically involved with Oefelein, police said. (AP)
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Lisa Nowak, foreground, a NASA astronaut, makes her initial court appearance in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2007, after being arrested on Monday at the Orlando International Airport. (AP Photo/Red Huber)
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Lisa Nowak, Orange County Sheriff's Department booking photo, left, and Space Shuttle STS-121 Mission Specialist photo. (AP Photo)
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In this undated photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak is shown. Nowak, 43, a U.S. Navy captain, was arrested on Feb. 5, 2007, for attempting to kidnap a woman she believed was romantically involved with another astronaut she was in love with, police said. (AP)
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Lisa Nowak, a NASA astronaut, is escorted to her initial court appearance in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Red Huber)
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Photo Essay Astronaut Arrested Charged with attempted murder in alleged kidnap attempt of romantic rival in love triangle with another astronaut.
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Photo Essay Discovery's 2nd Test Images of the shuttle Discovery as it embarks on another trip into orbit.
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In The Spotlight Space Place If NASA's doing it - you'll find the latest at Bill Harwood's Space Place.
At first the astronaut was charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts. Then prosecutors upped the charge to attempted murder, basing it on the weapons and other items they said police had found with Nowak or in her car: pepper spray, a BB-gun, a new steel mallet, knife and rubber tubing.
Nowak, a 43-year-old Navy Captain and married mother of three, was released from jail on $25,500 bail and ordered to wear a monitoring device.
Her lawyer, Donald Lykkebak, took issue with the most serious charges.
"In the imaginations of the police officers, they extend these facts out into areas where the facts can't be supported," Lykkebak said.
"The intent was there to do serious bodily injury or death," said Orlando Police Sgt. Barb Jones, referring to the items found in Nowak's car.
NASA put Nowak on a 30-day leave and removed her from mission duties. Agency spokesman John Ira Petty at Johnson Space Center in Houston said he was concerned about the people involved and their families. But, he added, "We try not to concern ourselves with our employees' personal lives."
If convicted of attempted murder, she faces between 30 years and life in prison, 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," Sgt. Jones told Jessica D'Onofrio of CBS affiliate WKMG-TV.
Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, who flew with Nowak to the international space station last July aboard space shuttle Discovery, and fellow astronaut Chris Ferguson attended the earlier hearing.
"Our primary concern is her health and well-being and that she get through this," Lindsey told reporters later. "Her status (with the astronaut corps) has not changed."
Ferguson said he was "perplexed" by Nowak's alleged actions.
Police said Nowak 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, an unmarried fellow astronaut.
Oefelein, 41, piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. He and Nowak trained together but never flew a mission together.
Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to an arrest affidavit.
Inside Nowak's vehicle, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities found a pepper spray package, an unused BB-gun cartridge, latex gloves and e-mails between Oefelein and Colleen Shipman.
They also found a letter "that indicated how much Mrs. Nowak loved Mr. Oefelein" and Shipman's home address, the arrest affidavit said.
Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship and didn't want to harm her.
"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," Jones said. "It's just really a very sad case."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 221 CommentsJust goes to show you why Hillary is a bad choice, I don't think she would think twice about running off with some hot guy or gal and put this whole country in the tank.
their are roadside stops that take maybe 5-10 mins to stop and use the bathroom.
this is just plain dirty.
dont even try to defend this act of insanity.
Why do people insist talking about war on every one of these chat things.
if you wanna talk about those things talk about it under the apropiate article.
This is a hilarious article about some nut in diapers it dosent get much better then that.
Remember Bush Gave Bremer a medal!
L. Paul Bremer III, who was head of the Coalition Provisional Authority,was given 363 tons of cash that was loaded onto airplanes and sent into the war zone in 2003, adding that U.S. officials had "no way of knowing whether the cash would wind up in enemy hands." Can you believe this? Tons of money stacked on wooden platforms! Still they don't know where billions of dollars went?
Bush gave this idiot a medal! I know it is not as sensational as some love triangle with a married woman wearing a diaper chasing some rival woman who may be just as crazy over a man with a huge shwantz but people are dying at three a day in Iraq and still our Congress does nothing. This article is a welcome distraction to Congress and the Bush Administration. Please understand this.
It makes me uncomfortable to watch someone self-destruct publicly.
Hopefully this story will have a short news cycle. (fat chance)
Justice for everyone !
If she kidnaped she should be punished no matter what her social position.
Still think she's the best???
Better think again. If you can vote for her, you can vote for Lisa too.
it's no use! looks like i ran that incest-hillbilly out of this forum. he's mad because i let the truth out about him: a reject not even good enough to make tha ranks of some real idiots like tha KKK or even tha skin-heads. and secretly he wishes he was black like me.
Whoever you are,,,,,,you need serious help,,,,NOW
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why do you blame me for leaving? did i hit a sore spot? should i have not picked your *** brain? maybe if you stop fondling your grandfather we can then make this real interesting!
oh, and don't forget the spell-check this time either!
why leave now?
did i make you mad?
i'm sorry!
didn't mean to dog you about how you can't spell in all!
why leave now?
did i make you mad?
i'm sorry!
didn't mean to dog you about how you can't spell in all!
why leave now?
did i make you mad?
i'm sorry!
didn't mean to dog you about how you can't spell in all!
why do you say you hate black people when you really wanna be one? is that why you couldn't make the cut as KKK? did they find out?
i can stay up late!
it's ok!
i can still play with you!
do you feel good about yourself? i bet you couldn't even make it as KKK or even a skin-head. i'll bet you feel lonely wishin someone could have your back. is that why you wish YOU were black?
i bet you wish you were black huh?
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See all 221 Comments