We no longer throw ticker-tape parades for our returning astronauts, said The Miami Herald in an editorial, but ?they still hold a special place in our collective national image.? That, presumably, explains our fascination with the strange, sad case of Lisa Nowak, whom tabloids have dubbed ?the astronut.? Nowak is the former space shuttle astronaut who slipped the surly bonds of sanity two weeks ago and drove 900 miles to pepper-spray, and allegedly try to kill, a love rival—all while wearing a diaper so as not to waste time on bathroom breaks. NASA has since promised to review its psychological screening processes, said Ellis Henican in Newsday, but the ?question lingers like the tail of a streaking comet. What sent a sane seeming woman over the moon like this??
As a former NASA training manager, I was ?not entirely surprised? to hear of Nowak?s meltdown, said Homer Hickam in the Los Angeles Times. With far too many astronauts vying for far too few slots, they face constant stress, even when they?re not preparing to be shot into space. Nowak isn?t the first of these ?overachievers? to have cracked under the pressure. It?s almost hardest on those who succeed, said The Hartford Courant in an editorial. They strive their whole lives to spend a few days in space, and then, suddenly, it?s over. Buzz Aldrin, for example, has struggled with depression ever since he returned from the moon. NASA should do a better job of preparing astronauts for the ?inevitable letdown? of returning to Earth.
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