Astro-nut stalked me, vic sez

NASA suspect charged with attempted murder in attack

BY ROSE DAVIS in Orlando
and CORKY SIEMASZKO in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Lisa Marie Nowak trades a spacesuit for a jumpsuit as she stands stooped during courtroom appearance yesterday at Orange County Jail in Florida facing kidnap and attempted slay raps against fellow astronaut Colleen Shipman.
Lisa Marie Nowak
Colleen Shipman
The NASA astronaut accused of trying to kidnap and kill her rival in a star-crossed love triangle allegedly had been stalking the woman for months.

Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, was able to track Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, 30, because she secretly downloaded her travel plans from the computer of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein - the strapping spaceman both women wanted.

And when Nowak allegedly attacked Shipman early Monday, she was packing a knife, pepper spray, a mallet - and a loaded BB gun with the safety off.

Nowak's alleged plan backfired when Shipman got away and yesterday the fly girl was slapped with an attempted murder charge - and grounded by NASA.

"She is officially on 30-day leave and has been removed from flight status and all missionrelated activities," said Michael Coates, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The woman once held up as a national role model slunk out of court with a tracking device strapped to her leg and a coat over her head.

It was a stunning fall for one of NASA's brightest stars, who had been the mission specialist on last July's Discovery flight to the International Space Station.

"Considering both her personal and professional life, these alleged events are completely out of character and have come as a tremendous shock to our family," Nowak's family said in a statement. They said Nowak, a mother of three, had recently separated from her husband of 19 years.

Shackled and dressed in a black jumpsuit, Nowak gave her name and date of birth but said nothing else both times she appeared in Orlando court yesterday.

Fellow astronaut Chris Ferguson admitted he was "perplexed" by Nowak's alleged actions.

"Our primary concern is her health and well-being and that she get through this," added chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, who flew on the shuttle with Nowak.

Nowak, of Houston, was ordered released on $25,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS ankle bracelet that's programmed to alert authorities - and Shipman - when Nowak's in Florida.

"The bond was from her family, not NASA like everybody thinks," said John Von Achen of Baron Bail Bonds in Orlando.

Shipman's mother, Debra, said her daughter was "more shocked, surprised that this could have happened, than anything else."

Nowak was nabbed after she allegedly donned a disguise and jumped Shipman at an Orlando International Airport parking lot. Shipman was zapped in the face with pepper spray but managed to escape.

Nowak was so determined to confront her rival she wore diapers so she wouldn't have to stop during the 12-hour drive to Orlando - something astronauts do during launch and reentry.

Nowak had been stalking Shipman for at least two months, according to the restraining order Shipman took out, but it gave no details on the stalking.

Nowak's bizarre alleged plan to rub out her nemesis appears to have been hatched some time around Jan. 23, when she broke into Oefelein's computer and downloaded detailed maps to Orlando, court documents revealed. The information sent Nowak racing to intercept Shipman, an engineer who works at Patrick Air Force Base and lives in Cape Canaveral.

Nowak insisted she just wanted to talk to Shipman about "their relationship with Mr. Oefelein." But police didn't buy Nowak's claim that she was trying "to entice Ms. Shipman to talk with her." They also charged her with attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary and battery.

Oefelein, who is 41 and divorced, piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. He and Nowak trained together in Alaska but never flew a mission together.

Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship."

With Angela Mosconi in Cape Canaveral

Her loony bag of accessories

The wrong stuff astronaut was armed and ready for action. The police report says when she was arrested, Lisa Marie Nowak had:

# a steel mallet

# a fully loaded BB gun with the safety off

# pepper spray

# latex gloves

# trash bags

# a wig

# adult diapers, so she could make the drive from Houston to Orlando without stopping