A NASA astronaut was arrested in Florida early Monday and accused of attacking a woman she considered her rival for the love of another astronaut, Orlando police said.
Navy Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak, who flew last summer on a shuttle mission to the International Space Station, drove nearly 1,000 miles from her home in Houston to intercept the woman, who was just arriving at Orlando International Airport, police said.
Nowak, 43, accosted 30-year-old Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman in a parking lot and sprayed her with pepper spray in an attempt to kidnap her, according to a police affidavit.
The arrest, first reported by the Orlando Sentinel, was an embarrassment for America's space agency, which for nearly five decades has obsessively portrayed its astronauts as paragons of personal integrity.
Police said Nowak considered Shipman a romantic rival for Navy Cmdr. William A. Oefelein, 41, who flew on the most recent shuttle mission in November.
Nowak, who is married with three children, was arrested on felony charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, and misdemeanor charges of destruction of evidence and simple battery, according to Orlando Police Sgt. Kathryn Sullivan.
James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said this was the first case he was aware of in which an active-duty astronaut had been charged with a felony.
He said that Nowak's status as an astronaut "is unchanged; I cannot speculate on what may happen in the future."
"There is a feeling that it is all very unfortunate for the families involved," he said.
Hartsfield said all astronauts go through rigorous psychological and physical testing. But, he said, "we don't track the personal lives of the individuals that work for the agency."
He emphasized that Nowak "did an excellent job" on her July mission, which continued work on the half-built space station.
Reached by phone Monday night, Nowak's mother, Jane Caputo of Rockville, Md., said she didn't know what happened with her daughter. "I wish I could help," she said. "But I know no more than you do."
The attack occurred in the airport's long-term parking lot about 4 a.m. EST Monday, police said.
Shipman had flown into Orlando, then took a bus to the long-term parking lot to pick up her car. Nowak, wearing a black wig and a trench coat, boarded the same bus, police said.
