NASA Fires Astronaut

davidwr writes "In an unprecedented move for an unprecedented situation, NASA has fired now-former astronaut Lisa Nowack. She is facing charges of attempted kidnapping related to an incident earlier this year. Ms. Nowack is a Navy officer and remains so."

Comments

Diapers saving time?

[lothar97]

One question about this whole thing that has bothered me is that she wore diapers to obviate the need for bathroom breaks. She drove 900 miles really fast, which meant she also had to refuel. Assuming great mileage, a large fuel tank, and a speedy car, she had to stop at least twice to gas. I'm not sure how much time would've been saved by stopping off in the loo. I think it tends to show more of how batty she is- which is good for her defense. Has anyone seen how long the trip actually took for her to drive?

Re:Diapers saving time?

[GreyPoopon]

One question about this whole thing that has bothered me is that she wore diapers to obviate the need for bathroom breaks.

Although we can't be sure, I would guess that it was not to avoid wasting time, and was instead to avoid getting caught on camera. You can fill up your gas tank outside, but most gas stations these days have their WCs on the inside, and most of them have CCTV to take pretty pictures of you. If she was hoping to murder and dispose of her rival, she would absolutely not want any evidence that she had made a cross country trip around the time that the victim disappeared. Of course, most gas stations these days also have cameras watching the license plates of their customers to avoid drive-offs, but I guess she was improving her chances by not going inside.

Re:Diapers saving time?

[iamacat]

How do you think astronauts handle descent in landing capsules, long spacewalks or other situation where one might need to pee? What's bizarre to us, might be routine for people who go on unusual missions.

Re:Has anyone tried

[susano_otter]

I'm sure many people have... including the mental health professionals responsible for certifying that the astronauts are maintaining the presence of mind and emotional stability necessary to perform what is a very demanding, stressful, and risky job.

I'd imagine that it takes very little in the way of strange behavior to disqualify a person for astronaut duty, regardless of what their explanation is. Even if her behavior was totally justified and not in any way her fault, the fact that she ended up behaving this way probably means she's not good astronaut material anymore. Astronauts should generally not respond to environmental or emotional stress by flipping out and committing crimes.

Re:tossed out an airlock

[susano_otter]

So you're saying that NASA should keep someone totally unqualified for any kind of high-stress, high-risk work on the payroll?

Besides, it's more like she's a Navy pilot seconded to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space research projects. If she's no longer suited to work on such projects, the right thing to do is to take her off those projects and return her to her regular Navy pilot duties--or such of those duties as her parent organization finds her still fit to perform. It's not like NASA tossed her out on the street.

Also, this is the first time an Astronaut has "snapped" like this. How do you know it's the training program, and not a personality quirk in the candidate? Astronauts are typically chosen from among a pool of people who have already proven their aptitude for high-stress, high-risk work. Most of the candidates eithe wash out or pass through the qualification tests. The ones that pass through almost never snap, but as manning increases, the occasional ringer is bound to slip through. The right thing to do is not to keep the ringer, but to wash them out as soon as you become aware of them.

Yeah, I've tried, but thats not the question.

[deft]

"Has anyone tried listening to her side of the story?"

has anyone tried to listen to it without laughing... thats the hard part.

What I love about this story is she gets aaa wig, everything you need to kill and torture someone, drives forever to meet her... and the weird part is diapers that isnt weird for her or her job... like none of that other stuff bothers anyone.

Clearly, we are desensitized to murder and all that... but adult diapers really gets us.

Re:Yeah, I've tried, but thats not the question.

[Chris Burke]

Because any human with a heart can at least understand the jealous lover who decides to take out the competition even if we'd never actually do it. That's a story as ancient as mankind, something which outside of the immediacy is completely banal.

The diapers are what make it weird.

Of course the rest bothers lots of people, it just doesn't make you stop and go "huh?" like hearing she drove cross country wearing diapers does.

Non-stop?

[WidescreenFreak]

Well, that is so you can drive non stop. Duh.

Please tell us the car that she drove that actually got 900 miles to a tank of gasoline. We want to know about it!