WASHINGTON – NASA will immediately begin two formal reviews of its procedures for assessing the emotional and psychological well-being of astronauts in response to Monday's arrest of a member of the elite corps, Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak, on charges of attempted murder and kidnapping in connection with an apparent love triangle.
Family photo
Astronaut Lisa Nowak and her husband, Richard, held their twin daughters in 2002 in Houston. Nowak is charged with trying to murder a woman she saw as a romantic rival.
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The first review will examine the extent and quality of the space agency's psychological testing and monitoring of the astronauts and will be done with the assistance of outside experts, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said yesterday.
The second review will be conducted by managers of the Johnson Space Center to determine how and why supervisors and colleagues there failed to detect how disturbed Nowak had become.
NASA officials said that as late as Friday, Nowak, 43, had been at work in Houston preparing to serve as lead Mission Control specialist in charge of communications between ground control and the crew of the next space shuttle mission.
By early Monday morning, Nowak had made a nonstop dash by car to Orlando to confront – and pepper spray – Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who she believed was a rival for the affections of astronaut William “Billy” Oefelein.
Nowak, who approached Shipman in disguise in an airport parking lot about 3 a.m., allegedly tried to get into Shipman's car while carrying a steel mallet, a buck knife and a BB gun that resembled a real 9mm semiautomatic handgun, according to an affidavit filed by local police. They said the BB gun was loaded with pellets and was set to fire.
Nowak was released on bail late Tuesday and returned yesterday to Houston on a commercial airline with chief astronaut Steven Lindsey, who had flown to Florida on Monday. NASA officials said that after a medical assessment yesterday morning at the Johnson Space Center, Nowak was with her parents and friends. Her son and twin daughters were with her estranged husband, Richard, who works for a NASA contractor.
Oefelein, 41, who piloted the most recent shuttle mission to the International Space Station, has two children and is divorced.
Dale said that Johnson officials first learned of Nowak's arrest early Monday morning from Oefelein. The NASA official said the astronaut had gotten a call from Shipman after the alleged attack and quickly telephoned the director of Johnson Space Center, where astronauts are stationed.
Nowak and Oefelein trained together as astronauts but were never on the same mission. Shipman, 30, works at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Nowak's bizarre behavior led NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to request a formal review of psychological testing and oversight procedures at Johnson Space Center. That assessment will be conducted by space center officials, Dale said, and will look into whether there were “any areas of concern – any leading indicators we might have picked up on, based on Lisa Nowak's dealings with other astronauts or NASA employees, between the time she was detailed to us from the Navy and the present.”
The second review will be undertaken by NASA's chief medical officer and will include outside experts who will assess the quality and appropriateness of the agency's psychological testing and counseling.
