To Kill An Astronaut
- 2
- Add a Comment
- No Related Post
Astronauts are considered by many to be extraordinary people, and they are. Before their admittance into astronaut training, they’re evaluated for intelligence, focus and stability. For the years of training required to achieve admission into the roster of the chosen few, they’re constantly monitored for academic excellence, physical performance, and mental toughness. They are beyond stable, they have to be super-stable. They are a contrasting blend of order-takers and risk-takers, able to obey an order instantly without question and yet able to extricate themselves from a dangerous situation with no input from command. They are extraordinary enough to admire, yet are human enough that we can empathise with them.
Lisa Nowalk, an astronaut who was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a fellow astronaut on February 5, 2007, has clearly been ill for some time. She stalked her victim for what appears to be a time period of two or more months, and then apparently planned and executed an attempted murder. As far as we know, this is the first time a mental breakdown of this magnitude has happened to an astronaut. She is clearly a danger to herself and others. She will receive treatment, punishment or both. Thank goodness the intended victim was skilled and smart enough to save her own life.
There have been other occasions when, living in a community of people who supported the NASA program, one heard many “stories behind the story”. In many cases where tragedy occurred, not only was it preventable but there were concerted attempts to cover up the facts. Once again, NASA dropped the ball.
2 Comments
Jim
March 8th, 2007
at 1:58pm
The article is borderline ok until the last paragraph. It reads like someone ran out of time or lost focus on what they were saying. If you’re going to try pointing out something about NASA dropping the ball, how about including some proof of it. You living there and hearing “stories behind stories” doesn’t mean anything except for possibly trying to liven up a blog post.
What other tragedies occurred? What was preventable? What attempts were made to cover up facts? What were the facts?
On a scale of 1-10 this gets a 2. You went nowhere with this while trying to apparently point out NASA screwed up somehow.
Lisa Miller
March 8th, 2007
at 3:29pm
Jim,
I’m so glad there are people reading my posts armed with a fine-toothed comb and a ready-made ratings system in hand. This is a blog, a place to express opinion and be read by one’s peers.
Whether you’re a wannabe copydesk editor or a NASA cheerleader, my reply must be that I’m not an investigative reporter and need not be held to those standards.
As to the stories behind the stories, I know for a fact that NASA failed the public and the astronauts themselves by downgrading nominal safety standards in the interests of a brisk launch schedule. If you’d like several days of interesting reading, do what I just did, google the search string “NASA admits”+tragedy. Remember, Google is your friend.
These sterling examples are the many times NASA has been forced to admit that potential problems that were deliberately ignored resulted in disaster. You can read about these events, long after the fact. I lived them.