The astronaut crime that shocked the world
Star Crossed transports readers to the moment the news broke that one
of America's heroes, an astronaut who had flown aboard the Space Shuttle
Discovery& just months before, had been arrested for a very bizarre
crime.
Lisa Nowak had driven 900 miles from Houston to Orlando to intercept and
confront her romantic rival in an airport parking lot--allegedly using
diapers on the trip so she wouldn't have to stop. Nowak had been dating
astronaut William "Billy" Oefelein when she learned that Oefelein was
seeing a new girlfriend--U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. The
"astronaut love triangle" scandal quickly made headlines. The world
watched as Nowak was dismissed from NASA, pleaded guilty to a felony,
and received an "other than honorable" military discharge.
An award-winning investigative reporter who covered Nowak's criminal
case, Kimberly Moore offers behind-the-scenes insights into Nowak's
childhood, her rigorous training, and her mission to space. Moore
ventures inside the mind of the detective who studied the actions Nowak
took that fateful February night. She includes never-before-told details
of Nowak's psychiatric diagnosis, taking a serious look at how someone
so accomplished could spiral into mental illness to the point of
possible attempted murder.
This book spotlights the often-overlooked psychological health of
astronauts, exploring how they are cared for by NASA doctors and what
changes have been made in recent years to support space travelers on
long-term missions. Expertly told, Moore's story is a riveting journey
inside the high-pressure world of one of America's most elite agencies
and the life of one beleaguered astronaut.
