Word: astronautical
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Give the folks at NASA this much - they know how to close ranks. Astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak was arrested this week and charged with attempted murder after driving 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, Fla., allegedly carrying a knife, a BB gun, pepper spray, latex gloves and rubber tubing-wearing a diaper all the while so she wouldn't have to stop en route-and assaulting a romantic rival in a parking lot. After all that, NASA spokesman James Hartsfield assured the press: "Her status as an astronaut is currently unchanged." If crazy doesn't get you bumped from...
...that it won't be told and told and told again by cable, tabs and blogs. The truly meaningful question is why that unraveling happened at all. Annapolis grads and shuttle jocks aren't supposed to come unglued. And NASA, a brutally Darwinian place that has been screening astronauts for almost 50 years, is not supposed to let loose screws through. Is NASA not as good at this as we thought? Are astronauts more destructible souls than they seem? And what does all this say about the weight-bearing ability of any human mind when the load grows too great...
...today everything is public, and in the tut-tut world of expos? journalism, astronauts-particularly women-misbehave at their peril. Nowak's NASA bio includes a seemingly focus-group-tested list of 10 wholesome hobbies, such as running, skeet shooting and raising African violets-pastimes somewhat at odds with a 900-mile pursuit in a wig and diapers. For now, Nowak will have time to return to those hobbies: NASA has placed her on a 30-day leave. The space agency will move beyond this episode but has already publicly resolved to keep a closer eye on-and take better...
...make sure an astronaut with the right stuff does not go wrong? NASA has been urged in the past to consider more psychological testing for its star adventurers, but critics say the agency has resisted. Now, the Lisa Nowak affair has prompted NASA to announce it will conduct a review of its psychological testing procedures for astronauts...
...review might begin by dusting off a 1998 report. Facing the prospect of lengthy missions to the international space station and beyond, NASA commissioned the study to look at how to enhance compatibility among astronaut crews. One recommendation called on NASA management to "develop and implement a psychological evaluation process as an integral part of an astronaut's annual physical examination...