Love-crazed astronaut's fall tests NASA's mettle

Cape Canaveral (Fla), Feb 8: NASA has experienced tragedies before, most recently with the loss of seven astronauts aboard shuttle Columbia in 2003.

But the US space agency finds itself in uncharted terrain as it deals with the fallout from the arrest of one of its elite astronauts. Police say Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak tried to kidnap and kill a woman she thought was a rival for a fellow astronaut's attentions.

''Unfortunately, I think this will affect NASA's image,'' said Joan Johnson-Freese, a space policy expert with the Naval War College in Rhode Island.

''NASA is the public face of the space program and the astronauts are the most visible part of that. NASA certainly has had negative publicity before, but it was always against NASA as an institution. I don't think there has been anything this personal in nature before,'' she said.

After two days of terse statements, NASA held a news conference yesterday to explain what it can and would do to support Nowak, who was arrested in Florida on Monday.

Associate Administrator Shana Dale said, ''This is a personal and legal matter.'' But the public may not distinguish between an astronaut's private life and the agency, said JB Kump, a retired Air Force officer and military spokesman, who lives in Florida.

''The public will apply the situation to the organization,'' Kump said. ''We're talking about a military member as well as a NASA astronaut, and any military officer knows their conduct off-duty is a reflection of themselves and their service.'' NASA was reviewing its medical and psychological care services and screenings to see if any improvements need to be made, Dale said.

Beyond that, Nowak, who returned to Houston yesterday, was taken off flight status, relieved of her duties at Mission Control for next month's space shuttle flight and placed on a 30-day leave of absence.

The charges, which were filed in an Orange County court in Orlando, stem from a late-night confrontation with an Air Force officer Nowak believed to be her rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut, Bill Oefelein.

''I think there are two elements to this story,'' Kump said.

''There is an individual with public trust who is engaged in perceived wrong-doing. This is a news story that sells and the media is going to market it for all it's worth. It's one thing to cover a fire, it's quite another to spray gasoline on the fire.'' George Whitesides, executive director of the Washington, DC-based National Space Society, said, ''I think this is more of a reflection of our culture and the media than it is representative of anything at NASA.'' He thought the public would quickly become distracted.

''My sense, and I could be wrong about this, is that this is a tragic story that the media has picked up for a couple of days. My guess is that it will fade back.'' For its part, NASA wants to be sure its workforce stays focused on safely flying people in the hostile environment of space.

''We have humans in space right now. We have a real challenge here with the missions in front of us,'' said Bob Cabana, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Reuters

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