The Lisa Nowak Situation

This week's news included Lisa Nowak in court, asking that her ankle GPS bracelet be removed. This whole story is sad for all involved. Lisa and I overlapped by about ten years at NASA. She was a capcom during one of my Space Shuttle missions and during my long-duration flight aboard the International Space Station. I didn't know her well, but found her to be a serious and well-intentioned person.

Some say that this case reflects badly on all astronauts. I disagree. As I stated in a previous posting, astronauts are professionals. However, we are human and fallible. There have been a few cases of bad judgment by astronauts over the years, it's just that most of these incidents never made it into the national news. I don't think people judge the entire astronaut corps based on a few unfortunate incidents.

I don't know what will come of her case, but it appears that she is expressing regret and remorse for her actions. I am glad that this is so and that she appears to be in a better state of mind than before. I really do wish her the best.

Leroy Chiao