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Name: Pedro
Birthday: 3/5/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: Anything and everything that makes you happy.
Expertise: Everything that you can think of. Yup, even that...
Occupation: Student
Industry: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
11/20/2003
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| Astronaut charged with kidnap attempt
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. - An astronaut drove 900 miles and donned a disguise to confront a woman she believed was her rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, police said. She was arrested Monday and charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts.
U.S. Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak, 43, who flew last July on a shuttle mission to the international space station, was also charged with attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery. She was denied bail.
Police said Nowak drove from her home in Houston to the Orlando International Airport to confront Colleen Shipman.
Nowak believed Shipman was romantically involved with Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, a pilot during space shuttle Discovery's trip to the space station last December, police said.
Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to an arrest affidavit. Police officers recovered a love letter to Oefelein in her car.
NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston said that, as of Monday, Nowak's status with the astronaut corps remained unchanged.
"What will happen beyond that, I will not speculate," he said.
Hartsfield said he couldn't recall the last time an astronaut was arrested and said there were no rules against fraternizing among astronauts.
When she found out that Shipman was flying to Orlando from Houston, Nowak decided to confront her, according to the arrest affidavit. Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers so she wouldn't have to stop to urinate, authorities said.
Astronauts wear diapers during launch and re-entry.
Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, Nowak boarded an airport bus that Shipman took to her car in an airport parking lot. Shipman told police she noticed someone following her, hurried inside the car and locked the doors, according to the arrest affidavit.
Nowak rapped on the window, tried to open the car door and asked for a ride. Shipman refused but rolled down the car window a few inches when Nowak started crying. Nowak then sprayed a chemical into Shipman's car, the affidavit said.
Shipman drove to the parking lot booth, and the police were called.
During a check of the parking lot, an officer followed Nowak and watched her throw away a bag containing the wig and BB gun. They also found a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, rubber tubing, $600 and garbage bags inside a bag Nowak was carrying when she was arrested, authorities said.
Inside Nowak's vehicle, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities uncovered a pepper spray package, an unused BB-gun cartridge, latex gloves and e-mails between Shipman and Oefelein. They also found a letter "that indicated how much Mrs. Nowak loved Mr. Oefelein," an opened package for a buck knife, Shipman's home address and hand written directions to the address, the arrest affidavit said.
Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship with Oefelein and didn't want to harm her physically.
"If you were just going to talk to someone, I don't know that you would need a wig, a trench coat, an air cartridge BB gun and pepper spray," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, a spokeswoman for the Orlando Police Department. "It's just really a very sad case. ... Now she ends up finding herself on the other side of the law with some very serious charges."
If convicted of attempted kidnapping, Nowak could face a maximum of life in prison.
It was not immediately known whether Nowak had an attorney.
Oefelein and Shipman did not immediately return phone messages Monday night.
According to NASA's official biography, Nowak is married with three children. During her 13-day mission in July she operated the robotic arm during three spacewalks.
Oefelein is unmarried. He piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. He has two children, according to a NASA biography.
Nowak and Oefelein were both first-time fliers during their shuttle missions last year. They trained together but never flew together.
HAHAHA 
Did anyone else think that diaper part was funny?
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Hawaii...
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Hawaii...
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It has been a long time...
Well no time like the present to update 
First off, greetings from Hawaii. I got in last night and getting
here was a trip that I want to forget. I started off by waking up
about 30 min later than I wanted to. Then when I got to the
airport, no one was really there and I checked in and made it through
security in about 20 min. Then I got on the airplane around
11:20 am and the flight was supposed to leave by 11:45 am.
Problem was there was something wrong with one of the wings and we
didn't leave till about 12:45 pm. They wouldn't let us off the
plane so we just had to sit there. The girl sitting next to me
smelled like garlic and onions for some reason so that was just nasty.
Then after arriving in Seattle, I tried to switch to an easier flight
that would take me directly to Honolulu but they wouldn't let me
because there was something about my ticket that wouldn't let me.
They had seats open but the guy said I couldn't. Then my break,
that was supposed to be about 1 hour and 30 min became 20 min and that
gave me only a little time to eat my first meal of the day... a Whopper
from BK.
Then I get on the plane to go to Maui and I had an aisle, exit row seat
and the Chinese person next to me asked me if I would be willing to
switch seats with her father who didn't speak English. To be a
nice guy, I said yes but it turns out that he had a middle seat.
I started to regret it and then regretted it even more when they had to
move because they couldn't understand English and I guess that is a
requirement to sit there. So the guy next to me kept bobbing his
head when he was sleeping and I was fighting for arm space with
him. What a long flight.
Then I land in Maui and I had only 20 min to try and find out where my
flight would be and try to make it there. I did just make it and
when I FINALLY landed in Honolulu, they almost lost my bags. (It came
out 25 min after everyone else got theirs and other people had their
bags "lost" too).
I hope the rest of the trip is going to turn out better than yesterday... 
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