Lisa Nowak, astronut
Last summer, astronaut Lisa Nowak was soaring 220 miles above earth, floating in the International Space Station. More recently, she was in a dingy jail awaiting a court appearance on charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary, destruction of evidence and battery.
Nowak, 43, a married mother of three, donned a wig and trench coat, armed herself with a BB gun and pepper spray and”wearing diapers, so she wouldn’t have to stop”drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando. She then confronted fellow astronaut Colleen Shipman, who she suspected was involved with another astronaut, Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein. She told police she only wanted to “talk”to Shipman about her relationship with Oefelien, but couldn’t explain the role of a wig, trench coat, BB gun and pepper spray in such “talk.â€
Nowak is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate with a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Astronauts are watched like hawks; one can only imagine the psychological testing that must be passed to be allowed the privilege of embarking on space missions. Yet, as author James Graham in The Secret History of Alcoholism points out, the second person to walk on the moon, Edwin E. “Buzz”Aldrin, Jr., “was an active alcoholic while an astronaut. While in training”and under intense medical and psychological scrutiny”he would go on two-week-long benders. He stopped drinking only two days before lift-off.â€
Nowak’s escapade is one of the most bizarre ever undertaken by a public figure. And the odds are, alcohol and other-drug addiction explain her actions.