NASA administrators must be aghast:
NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak was ordered released Tuesday on an additional $10,000 bond on an attempted murder charge.
... Police suspect Nowak intended to kill Colleen Shipman, 30, based on the fact that she traveled about 900 miles, wore diapers so she didn't have to stop and had deadly weapons in her possession when she was arrested.
The additional charge came hours after Nowak, considered a rising star at NASA, posted $15,500 bond for charges stemming from the alleged kidnapping plot, a jail spokesman said.
"She was about to be released when the Orlando police showed up with additional attempted first-degree murder," Orange County jail spokesman Allen Moore said.
The attempted murder charge is the most serious one that the married mother of three faces for what police said was an attempt to kidnap Shipman after allegedly pepper-spraying her Monday at the Orlando airport.
In addition, Nowak, 43, faces charges of battery, attempted kidnapping and attempted vehicle burglary with battery.
Nowak, a Navy captain, and Shipman, an Air Force captain, were both "in a relationship" with Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein, another astronaut, according to a police report of the incident. (Watch how police say a NASA love triangle went awry )
... According to the police report, Nowak drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando International Airport to meet Shipman, who was flying the same route, according to the report.
Police said Nowak pepper-sprayed Shipman through her car window at the airport. Evidence found in Nowak's bag prompted police to file the attempted kidnapping charges, according to the report.
... Shipman told police she arrived at the airport about 1 a.m. Monday but had to wait two hours for her luggage to arrive. Once she retrieved her bags, she said, she took a bus to the lot where her car was parked. She noticed a woman wearing a trench coat who appeared to be following her.
Fearing for her safety, Shipman quickly entered her car, the police report said, adding that she reported hearing "running footsteps" behind her. Shipman closed and locked her car door as Nowak slapped the window of the car and tried to open the car door.
Nowak told Shipman her ride had not arrived and asked for help, but Shipman refused, saying she would send help instead. When Nowak complained she couldn't hear Shipman and started to cry, Shipman opened her car window "about two inches" -- and Nowak sprayed pepper spray into the car, police said.
Shipman, her eyes burning, drove away and found police, who returned to the bus stop and found Nowak, who was wearing a different coat. As he approached to bus stop, an officer observed Nowak put some items into a trash can. Those items were found to be a wig and a plastic bag containing a carbon dioxide-powered BB pistol, the report said.
Inside a bag Nowak was carrying, the officer found a tan trench coat, a new steel mallet, a new folding knife with a 4-inch blade, 3 to 4 feet of rubber tubing, several large plastic garbage bags and about $600 in cash, the report said.
Nowak admitted the details of Shipman's story, according to the police report, and permitted a search of her car.
Inside the car, police found an a half dozen latex gloves, MapQuest directions from Houston to Orlando International Airport, e-mails from Shipman to Oefelein, diapers that Nowak said she wore to reduce stops along the highway, a letter indicating how much she loved Oefelein and directions to Shipman's home address in Florida.
It is standard procedure for astronauts to wear diapers when they suit up for launch and re-entry.
Asked about the BB pistol, Nowak told police it "was going to be used to entice Ms. Shipman to talk with her."
"Mrs. Nowak stated that she was not trying to cause any bodily harm to Ms. Shipman and that she only wanted to scare Ms. Shipman into talking with her," the police report said.
Shortly after the incident, Shipman sought a restraining order on Nowak in Brevard County, where Shipman lives and works, according to a copy of the order on Brevard County's Web site.
In the paperwork for the order, Shipman said that Nowak had been stalking her for two months. The hearing for that order is scheduled for February 20.
Nowak, an astronaut since 1996, flew her first shuttle mission in July as a mission specialist aboard the Discovery. Oefelein, 41, was the pilot of the last shuttle mission, also aboard Discovery, which flew in December.
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