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Documents: Some Colleagues Suspected Nowak Affair

POSTED: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
UPDATED: 2:56 pm EDT May 1, 2007

Some colleagues said they had suspicions about an extramarital affair between former astronaut Lisa Nowak and William Oefelein because of unusual behavior the pair displayed during training and other business, according to more than 100 documents released in the criminal case against Nowak.

In February, Lisa Nowak was arrested in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport where investigators said she pepper-sprayed Navy Capt. Colleen Shipman, who was dating the same astronaut Nowak was pursuing.

Court documents released Tuesday contain interviews with numerous NASA astronauts, including those who flew with Nowak on space shuttle Discovery in July as well as crewmates of another shuttle flight that included Nowak's love interest, Oefelin.

"In the NASA interviews, Lisa Nowak's space shuttle crewmates say she was a competent astronaut but also a bit strange," Local 6's Mike DeForest said.

Astronaut Mike Fossum reported seeing Nowak and Oefelein together under unusual circumstances at least two times, Florida Today's Flame Trench reported. Once during the training run-up for a flight, Nowak lied to her crewmates about her intention to stay behind in Florida only to depart from KSC with Oefelein in a NASA T-38 training jets bound for the Florida Keys, Florida Today reported.

Other astronauts reported to police that Oefelein invited Shipman to an exclusive post-flight dinner with him during a time when the crew was still in quarantine and could have only one guest. Thus, they said, they knew that relationship was serious, Florida Today reported.

Fellow astronauts also described Nowak as "selfish" and a bad team player who was not very helpful on their space mission, the report said.

"In the interviews conducted by Nasa's inspector general, no one predicted that Nowak would do something bizarre like driving across the country wearing a diaper to attack another woman," DeForest said.

One astronaut was surprised Nowak could navigate the 950 miles from Houston to Orlando, claiming that Nowak was bad with driving directions, the report said.

Several astronauts suggested that Nowak was upset because she had been passed over for a seat on an upcoming shuttle flight. That decision meant that Nowak would likely never travel in space again, according to DeForest.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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