Lisa Nowak Goes Off The Deep End
By Arian Campo-Flores
Newsweek
Updated: 7:16 p.m. CT Feb 6, 2007
Colleen Shipman eyed the woman in the tan trenchcoat suspiciously. The woman appeared to have been following her ever since she left the baggage claim area at Orlando International Airport in the pre-dawn hours Monday. The woman boarded the same bus headed for the long-term parking lot, disembarked when Shipman did and pursued Shipman as she headed to her car, according to a police affidavit. Nervous, Shipman quickly got in her vehicle and locked the doors. The woman slapped at the car window. “Can you help me, please?” she asked Shipman. “My boyfriend was supposed to pick me up and he is not here.” The woman asked to use Shipman’s cell phone, but Shipman refused. When the woman indicated she couldn’t hear her, Shipman lowered her window about two inches. Then the woman unleashed pepper spray in Shipman’s face, according to a police affidavit.
Shipman quickly peeled out of her spot and headed to a toll booth, where she asked for police. When the cops arrived, one attended to Shipman, whose eyes were burning, while the other tracked down the mysterious assailant, whom he saw dumping some objects into a trash bin. Shipman arrived soon after with the other officer and identified the woman as her attacker, though the woman’s hair and clothing now looked different. One officer soon learned why: in the woman’s bag, he found the trenchcoat; in the trash bin, he found a black wig, along with a plastic bag and a BB pistol. The cops arrested the woman and soon discovered her startling identity: Lisa Nowak, NASA astronaut.
It was a stunning turn of events for a decorated Navy captain with a stellar roster of accomplishments, including flying on a space shuttle mission last summer. Authorities allege that Nowak attacked Shipman over a mutual romantic interest: astronaut William Oefelein, who piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. (Shipman works at Patrick Air Force base near the Kennedy Space Center and was returning home.) On Tuesday, authorities hurled an array of charges at Nowak: attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary, destruction of evidence and battery. In her two court appearances, she did not enter a plea and was later released after posting $25,000 in bail. Her attorney, Donald Lykkebak, said the murder accusation was “mere speculation,” and maintained that Nowak was merely trying to get Shipman’s attention. This is believed to be the first time a NASA astronaut has faced such charges. Fellow astronaut Steve Lindsey, who attended one of the hearings, told reporters, "Our primary concern is her health and well-being and that she get through this."
As details emerge of Monday morning’s incident, the story has only grown more bizarre. According to a police affidavit, Nowak, 43 and married with three kids, described her relationship with Oefelein as “more than a working relationship, but less than a romantic relationship.” She told police that she merely wanted to speak to Shipman about Oefelein. When she found Shipman’s flight information-which she allegedly retrieved from Oefelein’s computer-she drove 900 miles from Texas to Orlando. She was so determined to avoid delays that she used diapers to relieve herself (as astronauts commonly do in space).
But for someone who supposedly wanted just to chat, Nowak equipped herself with a menacing array of gear. In addition to the BB gun and pepper spray, police searching her car and belongings found a steel mallet, a folding knife with a four-inch blade, three to four feet of rubber tubing, several large plastic bags, half a dozen latex gloves, printed directions to the Orlando airport and to Shipman’s home, and love letters from Nowak to Oefelein. According to police, Nowak said she planned to use the weapons “to scare Ms. Shipman into talking with her.” When cops asked about the pepper spray, Nowak reportedly replied, “That was stupid.”
Nowak’s alleged deeds tarnish a career marked by triumph. Those who knew Nowak growing up say she was always driven. “She was always unbelievably competitive,” said one high-school classmate who declined to give her name. “She insisted on being the best, but it wasn’t in a rub-it-in way. She wasn’t an ugly person in that sense, just more self-driven and self-satisfied.” Nowak admitted as much in an interview last year with Ladies’ Home Journal. “I liked it better if I was good at something,” she said. “But if I wasn’t, I either worked harder to get good at it, or tried to find something else that could accomplish the same goal.” Her ambition is evident in the entries in her high school yearbook. She was on the field hockey and track teams, and participated in class council, student government, the math team and the French honor society, among other organizations. She selected a quote from Henry David Thoreau for her yearbook entry: “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.”
Nowak certainly elevated hers. After graduating high school, she joined the U.S. Naval Academy, where she graduated in 1985 with an engineering degree. She became a test pilot-an accomplishment she achieved only after six attempts-and logged more than 1,500 hours of flight time. In 1996, she joined the space program and trained for two years at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she’s based. Last July, she flew as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Discovery’s trip to the International Space Station.
NASA subjects its astronaut applicants to a battery of psychological exams and evaluations-leading some to question how Nowak was able to get through. The Johnson Space Center didn’t respond to a request to speak to a NASA psychologist before publication. But Harvey Wichman, former head of the Aerospace Psychology Laboratory at Claremont McKenna College, says the space agency seeks out “stable, optimistic and happy people, people who seem to self-monitor themselves and are sensitive to other people.” In everything they do, he explains, astronauts are closely monitored by psychologists attentive to their behavior and interactions. When it comes time to train for a mission, the goal is to forge the team into a family. “They really bond,” says Wichman. Perhaps in the case of Nowak, a little too much.
Alexandra Gekas
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.