Lost in space

Hell hath no fury and all that, but to hear of an astronaut who drove 900 miles, apparently to bump off a rival is bizarre. The pictures to the left show Lisa Nowak, a 43-year-old astronaut ... first is her in a March 2005 NASA portrait, the next one is after she was arrested a few days ago in Florida, where she was charged with the attempted murder of a woman she believed was romantically involved with a fellow astronaut who Nowak, a married mother of 3 who apparently split with her husband a few weeks ago, was also involved with. People are fascinated with the fact that Nowak wore diapers -- the kind astronatus wear in space -- so she wouldn't have to make too many potty stops between Houston, where she and the male astronaut involved in the triangle live, and Orlando, where she confronted the other woman. Nowak was in a trenchcoat and wig, armed with a BB gun and pepper spray, and -- this is creepy -- had a steel mallet, a knife and rubber tubing in her car.

What freaks me out is, she must have passed some serious psychological testing to become an astronaut ... she was just up in the shuttle in July. It's scary to think how obsession and emotion can destroy someone who must have been able to pass muster as a strong, stable person.

Get this ... a NASA spokesman said he was concerned about the people involved and their families, but then he added, “We try not to concern ourselves with our employees’ personal lives.” Sounds like a policy that needs revisiting, pronto.