Ex-astronaut Nowak dropped from the Navy
ORLANDO, Florida - A former astronaut banished from NASA after she attacked a romantic rival is being kicked out of the Navy, officials said Thursday.
Capt. Lisa Nowak will retire with an "other than honorable" discharge and her pay grade will be knocked down one rank, Assistant Secretary of Navy Juan Garcia said in a statement.
Nowak's conduct "fell well short" of what is expected of Navy officers and she "demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow service member," Garcia said.
Nowak was accused of confronting Colleen Shipman in the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport in February 2007 after driving from Houston. She had diapers in the car, but Nowak disputes she wore the diapers. Shipman, an Air Force captain, had begun dating Nowak's love interest, former space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein.
Nowak was sentenced in 2009 to a year of probation in the attack after pleading guilty to burglary charges.
Since her dismissal from the astronaut corps, Nowak has been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her retirement takes effect Sept. 1.
The "other than honorable" discharge may affect veterans' benefits for Nowak, who has been in the Navy for 20 years. A call to her cell phone was not returned.
The decision by the Navy came after a board of inquiry heard testimony last year.
"Our rule is to make the right decision," said Lt. Alana Garas, a Navy spokeswoman. "There was a lot of material associated with this case."
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The effects of losing their best friends just months earlier to this incident were totally ignored by the military who evidently believe their astronauts are simply well-oiled machines.
The nature of Nowak's "transgression" was understandable if one realizes that the effect on her of her friends'failure to return from the last mission was one of traumatic abandonment. The last thing this woman needed was for her boyfriend to leave her for another lover so soon after the permanent loss of her friends.
I'm willing to bet that at her "hearing" there was something important missing from the evidence. That would be a psychological report written up after a complete psychological evaluation of this astronaut and all the others in the same group as those who were lost.
Why was there no such report?
It wasn't done.
The military should have grounded future flights for at least one or two years after such an accident. This gives all those connected to the loss time to grieve and get themselves together including time for treatment if needed.
Not our military. A flight was lost so they shoot up another in a month or two - the show must go on. These are ASTRONAUTS you know?
She went whacko for a wiener. This has nothing to do with cracking under pressure. She was being led by her *****, nothing more.
She went whacko for a wiener. This has nothing to do with cracking under pressure. She was being led by her *****, nothing more."
So, wardwww, when you were training untold hours to be an astronaut, you just breezed on through right? No worries? You have any idea what it takes to be an astronaut? What she went wacko for is not the issue. She could have killed herself, or done some other mentally deranged thing. It is sad to me to see someone lose all they have for any reason.