Astronaut Charged With Attempted Murder

This photo provided by NASA shows astronaut and U.S. Navy Capt. Lisa M. Nowak, March 7, 2005 in Houston. Nowak was arrested Monday Feb. 5, 2007 for attempting to kidnap a woman she believed was romantically involved with another astronaut she was in love with, police said. Nowak, 43, who flew last July on a space shuttle mission to the international space station, was charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery. She was denied bail. (AP Photo/NASA) (AP)

On Tuesday, a Houston neighbor, Bryan Lam, told The Associated Press that in November he heard the sounds of dishes being thrown inside the house and the police came.

"I've seen them arguing before," he said.

Nowak, in a NASA interview last year, before her mission aboard Discovery, as well as in an interview with ABC News, spoke about the strain her career placed on her family. She has twin 5-year-old girls and a son who is 14 or 15.

"It's a sacrifice for our own personal time and our families and the people around us," she said in the NASA interview. "But I do think it's worth it because if you don't explore and take risks and go do all these things, then everything will stay the same."

In an in-flight news conference aboard Discovery last summer, she talked about waiting nearly 10 years for her first space flight. "It's been a long wait, but it's worth the wait," she said.

NASA astronauts often have nicknames, at least among their crewmates and Mission Control. Aboard Discovery last July, Nowak and crewmate Stephanie Wilson were known as "the Robochicks" because they operated the shuttle's robotic arm that checked the spacecraft for damage.

A smiling, put-together woman in her NASA photos, Nowak's police mug shot showed a fatigued, haggard face with scraggly hair.

Oefelein, a 41-year-old Navy commander nicknamed "Billy-O" by his comrades, trained with Nowak but never flew with her. He piloted a Discovery mission in December to the space station where astronauts rewired the outpost, installed a new $11 million section and dropped off a new American crew member.

Oefelein is unmarried but has two children. He began his aviation career as a teenager, flying floatplanes in Alaska.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Shipman is an engineer assigned to the 45th Launch Support Squadron at Patrick air base, and a Federal Aviation Administration pilot directory indicates she is certified as a student pilot.

Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, who flew with Nowak to the space station last July aboard Discovery, and fellow astronaut Chris Ferguson attended Monday's court hearing.

"Our primary concern is her health and well-being and that she get through this," Lindsey told reporters afterward.

Ferguson said he was "perplexed" by Nowak's alleged actions.

NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters said shuttle crews that fly for two-week stints do not go through psychiatric screenings. She said crews assigned to the space station are screened before, during and after missions.

NASA will not conduct an investigation, Cloutier-Lemasters said.

At least one retired astronaut, Jerry Linenger, said the space agency should review its psychological screening process. With NASA talking about a 2 1/2-year trip to Mars, it would be dangerous for someone to "snap like this" during the mission, he said.

"An astronaut is probably the most studied human being by the time you go through your testing, your training," Linenger said. "I think there's still a lot of unknowns out there."

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AP National Writer Erin McClam reported from New York for this story. AP writers Malcolm Ritter in New York, Seth Borenstein in Washington, Rasha Madkour in Houston, Kelli Kennedy in Miami and Jim Ellis in Cape Canaveral contributed to this report.