So, you want to be an astronaut! February 7, 2007
Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science , trackbackOK, if you haven’t heard about Capt Nowak yet, you are living under a rock. So, I’ll spare the links and get to the guts.
(disclaimer…these are MY views. If you disagree, FINE, but this is based on my experience)
A female working in the physical sciences is often a minority. We are surrounded by egos that often exceed the normal size and need to work daily with this. When a woman works in this sort of environment, a certain mentality develops. We are "one of the guys". We learn to work with the crude jokes and sometimes even like them. Like most women working in a man’s field, there are subtle levels of discrimination, intended and not. To work in a man’s field, you learn to suck up more. Yeah, I wish there was equality in all places, but let’s be realistic for a minute.
Now take a woman who goes into a high risk field, like, oh firefighting, military, astronaut. She has to have a certain attitude towards risk. I don’t have it. I find space travel to be too risky for my family. I respect the men and women who do it, but I don’t have what it takes to be able to do it. She (and the men) are already slightly "nuts". Like the mountain climbers who tackle Everest. There’s a certain level of insanity that lives in those people.
NASA screens the astronaut corps in the beginning. What they really need to continual screening. Working in tight quarters with others is difficult. It is true with men and women. Any high stress job needs to not only make the facilities available, but to also make it mandatory to allow people to get help.
NASA work is STRESSFUL. I can’t imagine the stress of working with people in space. I know the stress of working on a problem when it’s just equipment involved.
I can see how this woman snapped. Really. I can even understand her justification for wearing diapers (come on guys, she was in space. Think there are toilet breaks while you are on the launch pad?) But I can’t comprehend the things she had in her car. The perfect items for subduing, killing and dismembering a human.
NASA needs to work on this. It may piss people off, but there needs to be more mental health care available and required for all of the astronaut corps. I see that NASA is having a press briefing on this right now.
It is something to be taken seriously.
Note that Ms. Nowak’s husband is in mission control for ISS (international Space Station). Yeah, that’s not stressful either…
Comments»
I wondered what your take on the story would be. It’s a real jaw-dropper. You forgot to add in the psychological pull of being with guys who think the way you do, all the time, and the hothouse environment of being with him/her ALL THE TIME. (Those are mostly the “why she fell for him” part.) There’s something very seductive about hanging around with smart guys who like the same things you do, and that’s just in the computer world. But, boy oh boy, she sure stepped off the deep end entirely…
I have a friend who works at JSC and her comment to me in email was, “Yeah, maybe too much radiation fried some brain cells”
The thing I read and reread were the facts:
1) She’s a Navy Captain - whoa, that’s a pretty hard rank to reach especially for a woman because of non-direct combat restrictions.
2) She was having…errr, a relationship with a Navy Commander. I wonder what the rule of a senior officer diddling with a junior would be?
3) Duh, her career is over.
but
4) Duh, his career is over too. Affairs with married women is bad for military standing/morale.
5) There’s plenty of people in line wanting their jobs, so adios!
We’re all human. Just because you have 2+ graduate degrees doesn’t prevent you from being a nutjob with a steel mallet in the trunk of your car.
My prediction is she’ll get charged only with assault, and she’ll get probation and drummed out of NASA. The “attempted murder” charge was just for PR. Can’t show true intent.
I just couldn’t believe it when I first read the article. I told my husband, if someone wants him that badly, I will step back. I am not stupid enough to go after someone because she wants my husband. No sireee!! My husband comment to me was “thanks honey”.
Sherrie
I’m apparently living under a rock, because I don’t have the faintest idea what this is all about. In my defense, I do live on the other side of the planet though, where this story apparently hasn’t made the news.
Off to google now that my curiosity’s been peaked…
Well I must be under the same rock, lol. No idea what you are talking about but guess I’ll go find out!