Homer Hickam has similar thoughts to mine on why Nowak cracked, with some recommendations, which are opposite to mine. His are to reduce the astronaut office, while mine are to open up flight opportunities. Either way, the situation has to be brought into balance.

What would the armchair psychology be if Nowak were other than an astronaut?

Homer says shrink the office, but allow more flight opportunities for those outside the office. Either plan would work, though I like Rand's take better 'cause it'd give a better chance for me to fly.

One astronaut goes nuts and all of a sudden it has to somehow be NASA's fault for not allowing enough flights, having too stressful a work environment, or whatever. Sometimes people just go off the deep end regardless of who they are. Astronauts are only human and subject to the same range of emotions as everyone else. I also find it odd how a lot of people seem willing to dismiss Nowaks behavior, and even sympathize with her, simply because she is an astronaut and the poor thing must just be having a hard day at work. If an astronaut pepper sprayed me and threatened to kill me, I'd have a real hard time feeling sorry for them. The real victim is getting the short end of the stick.

I still don't see why this was reported as,

"...Nowak, a female ASTRONAUT, drove 900 miles..."

She cracked, plain and simple after she felt rejected by a presumed suitor from her workplace. She went after her rival for said suitor. Why do her job title and the length of the trip cause so much stir? If she worked at a fast food pace and turned on a co-worker would it have been reported like this?

...Nowak, a female BURGER FLIPPER, drove 4 blocks...

No it would have never been a reported story at all. Or is the real story here that our astronaut corps suffers from the same pampering, fan worship and coddling that professional athletes suffer from?

I don't discount an astronauts hard work and study. But you're dealing with a group of high achievers, who are told repeatedly that they are the best of the best of the best. They've gotten accustomed to getting that for which they have striven. Then Nowak gets denied something she thought she had sewn up. "SNAP goes the ego!!" And once she snapped the distance didn't matter to her.

I feel for everyone involved, it's a bad situation. But the one group I haven't seen any outpouring for in all this is her kids and her estranged husband. I expect most of the astronaut corps read the article, tsk tsk'd and mentally tallied how this affected their own flight status. High achievers think that way quite often.

Steve:

The fact that Nowak was an astronaut is the cherry on top of the sundae. If a burger flipper had driven 900 miles in DIAPERS, and stalked a romantic rival with a kit that included a trench coat, wig, pepper spray, steel mallet, rubber tubing, and a BB-pistol that looks like a .45 don't you think that would have attracted *some* media attention?

It is the amount of preparation -- and sheer determination shown by the stalker -- that separates this story from that of a burger-flipper driving four blocks. Sitting for over ten hours -- in your own urine -- so that you can have a little chat with a romantic rival? That is usual behavior? Not on the planet most of us occupy.

This story was news -- news of the weird, admittedly -- even without the astronaut. Without the astronaut it is a Section A story, maybe even below-the-fold first page for a paper in either end of the journey.

Throw in an astronaut: a career that has been a paradigm for "right-stuff" achievement and stability? Yup. It's a lead story. It's not just bizarre behavior -- it's bizarre behavior from a community that had a reputation for being unbizarre.

Wind them tight enough and they alway crack. The stories of the George Abbey years are horrific - but I wonder if things have really improved. Probably not.

Someone should read the RAND report that led to the PRP program for the military (Personal Reliablity Program) - vetting for people who get to play with Buckets Of Instant Sunshine. The essence of which is that people are not perfect 100% of the time. Trying to demand that kind of perfection is an ideal way to cause people to hide problem, repress feelings etc.

Posted by Steve at February 13, 2007 10:27 AM

I dont agree with any of that.

"What" Nowak does for aliving has little or nothing to do with what caused her to do what she did. People are people and when people drop down in the heirchy of things to their "base" efforts (love, fear, hate etc) then the only thing that their job has to do with it...is how long they try and keep their base efforts under control. Not the base efforts themselves.

Nowak would have acted as she acted, had she been a flight attendant or a pilot or an insurance salesperson or whatever...her job had nothing to do with it.

It has everything of course to do with the publicity that the event recieves..that goes with the territory.

And here position as a commissioned officer goes with what should have been the response. I dont care how the criminal charges turn out (and I predict that she will do jail time) there is enough here to ask her to resign both her commission and her position at NASA.

See Kelly Flinn.

Had NASA done that say this last weekend, the story would essentially have been over. Now it will go on until someone at NASA finally gets around to doing it....or the Navy brings charges...
Robert

Robert Oler certainly is in a position to speak about things like this. He knows all of the astronauts ... especially the female ones.

Chances are things like this do happen all the time and don't get reported. I hear of stuff going through hospitals that never gets talked about that leaves you wondering. For instance, there were 4 people that jumped off a over pass together in a suicide pack. Not a peep in the news about it, why, because it was just a bunch of white trash on meth. No sympathy, no reaction other then head shaking, and nothing about the people beyond that particular event that is a thought provoking process.

The fact that she IS an astronaut has a lot to do with it obviously. I think Rand makes a genuine point in that a big reason we are talking about this event is because we are thinking of the novelty of being an astronaut. This provokes us and draws us into the examination of what space flight is like and how profound it would be to one self. I too wish it were possible to explore this frontier of reality and emotion to see if it would have such a marketed effect. Sign me up for the diaper express!!

*Sudden flash of thought* Hey someone should go after Huggies as a sponsor.

Posted by Josh Reiter at February 13, 2007 08:25 PM.....

Josh.

This is not the first instance of astronauts seeking happiness (grin) outside of their marriage...and of course people seek "happiness" outside of their marriage "all the time"...so nothing unique here.

I disagree with Homer on a few things...I dont think that the flight rate has anything to do "with this"...the only thing I think that NASA had to do "with this" is that "to be an astronaut" requires a public persona of perfection and if you read Nowaks "super person" interview (copies are out) its clear that she was trying to live that legend. coupled with the fact that none of the strows can really seek any kind of "help" (even marriage counseling) when things start to "unglue"....

But past that its a fairly common thing that sadly happens a lot in the country.

All their careers are over. Shipman will probably survive but her hopes if they were ever there of being a strow is gone.

Nowak is absent a miracle going to go to jail. I would give it even money on the murder charge...more then that on assualt and kidnapping. The only vague hope is that she could "plea" something which might avoid the orange suit but I have a feeling that the Orange county DA knows there is a hot rock case here and is going to push it for all that it is worth...

billy boy, well there is always Southwest.

Court TV...salivating...

Robert

I think here defense will go for an insanity plea and given what I have seen, it seems justified in this instance. If she was cold blooded rational and wanted to actually kill Shipman, she could have come up with a far more efficient plan with a much greater likelyhood of success.

This seems to go well beyond a simple play for lust to 'there coming to take me away, ha,ha!' territory. I think her bizarre obcession with the other Astronaut was simply the final manifestation of her psychosis.

But I am not a shrink so YMMV. (I have, stayed in multiple holiday in expresses, however.)

Posted by Mike Puckett at February 14, 2007 07:13 AM..

the plans are never "very sophisticiated"..particularly as the people move up the feeding chain of sophistication...it is kind of like Carla (?) Harris running over her husband in the parking lot...it wasnt very sophisticated particularly since there were people in the parking lot busilly recording cell phone video.

I have nothing about this case other then what I use to do in a former life, but I would "think" that a plea of insanity would be very very difficult to push out.

"Passion" is out as a defense. There was to much planning that took place (the stories I hve read now put computer activity at over 1 month...) and I also think that the time line involved will rule out insanity, particularly since I suspect the NASA post "incident" physical will be part of the testimony and they will pronounce her "sane".

There is a credible argument that the only thing that prevented the execution of Nowak's plan was the quick thinking of her intended victim. I would "love" to be the prosecuting attorney as Shipmen testifies about that night in the parking lot.

Shipmen will come over (I think) as fairly credible and there wont be a woman on the jury who wont sympathize with her...and I would imagine that there wont be a woman on the jury who will sympathize with Nowak..

All the elements were there, coercive power (percieved or other wise), tape and the cloth wadding for a gag, the rubber tubing for restraint..and I am lead to understand that "other" things were at the hotel room. And Nowak took the first step...she pepper sprayed her.

The four elements of a crime...textbood as they say.

Nowak will have to pull off the performance of her life in cross examination (and her only chance in my view will be to testify).

Should make for great Court TV...

Robert