Remember Lisa Nowak? You know, the former astronaut who wore a NASA adult diaper just so she could drive hundreds of miles non-stop to confront a woman who was seeing her man? Yes, THAT Lisa Nowak. Well now, she has been kicked out of the U.S. Navy.
Nowak was accused of confronting Colleen Shipman in the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport in February 2007 after driving non-stop from Houston. According to police, Nowak sprayed pepper spray into Shipman’s car in a dispute over Nowak’s love interest, former space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, who was dating Shipman at the time. Nowak was released from the space program, then sentenced in 2009 to a year of probation in the altercation after pleading guilty to burglary charges. Now, her Navy career is no more.
Capt. Lisa Nowak will retire with an “other than honorable” discharge and her pay grade will be knocked down one rank, Assistant Secretary of Navy Juan Garcia said in a statement. Nowak’s conduct “fell well short” of what is expected of Navy officers and she “demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow service member,” Garcia said.
Since her dismissal from the astronaut program, Nowak had been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She will be demoted to commander when her retirement takes effect September 1st.
