What I don't get about the crazy-lady astronaut,

[raccoon]

is that astronauts have to go through all kinds of physical and psychological testing to make sure they have "the right stuff" before they're accepted as astronauts.

So...what went wrong?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. They had to adjust the evaluation procedures

to accommodate the fact that ya gotta be nuts to let someone shoot you out into space on a big skyrocket.

[Greyskye]

2. People change in 10 years?

Even astronauts?

[raccoon]

That's a possibility--that's how long she's been an astronaut?

Still, you'd think they'd do some ongoing kind of evaluations.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. Especially when she went up on a shuttle mission last year.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. You might consider that she lost 3 classmates of her astronaut

training class when the shuttle burned up 4 years ago - that could make for some traumatic changes, such as upsetting her home life, leading to separating from her husband of 19 years a couple months ago.

And I reckon NASA's budget has taken a few hits in the last 5 years, so incidentals like psyche screening might be put on a back burner - as needed, only.

Like now.

[mr_hat]

3. I think something happened while she was in space. >

Something very, very scary.

[tridim]

9. Did it involve a "probe" by chance?

:shrug:

[butterfly77]

41. She ain't got no panties on,ain't got no panties on

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[dogday]

4. There was another woman in the same area I think

who was a Dentist and she discovered her Husband who also was a Dentist was cheating on her, and she ran him over then backed over him and ran over him again....


I think it might be the water??? :shrug:

[Horse with no Name]

15. I am NOT defending her actions at all

Her name was Clara Harris and her husband psychologically abused her and she just snapped. It wasn't just that he was cheating on her, it was the ultimate insult that broke the camel's back.
But...on the other subject...there must be something in the water.
Andrea Yates was from the same area.

[dogday]

22. We could be on to something.... nt

[Horse with no Name]

25. My guess would be the husbands

:hide:

[baldguy]

46. Texas

[elehhhhna]

50. She didn't back over him, she just circled around a few times.

With his teenaged daughter in the car.

People just snap sometimes.

[BOSSHOG]

5. I'm not surprised

this behavior occurred with an astronaut. I am surprised it happened to a Navy Captain. This sort of escapade is something you don't want reviewed in a promotion board.

[Rosemary2205]

6. How do you know something went wrong (with the testing)?

1. Everyone has a breaking point. Everyone.

2. The media is known to embellish, misreport, cherry pick and generally lie.

3. The government is all lies all the time at this point.

4. Considering #2 and 3 above, we don't know that she wasn't "shut up" and may never know.

5. We don't really know everything space travel does to the human body long term.


Call it tin foil hat time if you like, but I just don't swallow everything the media hands me anymore.

[DemBones DemBones]

43. Nice to see a reasoned post amongst the name calling and snickering

at a human being's self-destruction.

Explain to me how reveling in someone's breakdown squares with liberal values in any way.

I believe she was in a manic state. You should all pray you never experience mania personally, or see it affect someone you care about.

[tridim]

7. It could be the Cruella Harris effect

They actually let her be a Representative for a few years.

Something about that astronut reminds me of Harris.

[malaise]

14. I thought I was alone on this

Indeed I think KH can act the part in the movie.

[TheWraith]

8. According to the experts, psych tests can't guarantee people's stability ten years later. NT.

[raccoon]

10. See my post upthread. nt

[yardwork]

11. Maybe the types of issues that NASA screens for

aren't relevant to how well people handle personal issues in their lives. Certainly, Tom Wolfe described the Mercury astronauts as hard-drinking, sports-car driving, promiscuous people in _The Right Stuff_. The movie toned some of that down, but it was still clear that even many of the original Mercury astronauts did not have particularly stable personal lives.

[tanyev]

24. Good point.

They're looking for people willing to risk death to go into outer space. I'd rather stay home and watch a DVD.

[JVS]

12. They get used up by NASA and thrown away like toothless strippers!

That's my guess

[Balbus]

13. What I don't get is how did she get bond?

The lady left the planet, for christ's sake! How is she NOT a flight risk??

[JVS]

17. Please forfeit your rocket keys

[soleft]

27. LOL!

[RaleighNCDUer]

37. I would bet she is much more a suicide risk than a flight risk.

Her chosen career, which she worked toward since she was 6, is over.

[progdonkey]

16. in some other thread I mentioned this...

I think much of the psychological testing is of the "panic limit" sort, ie. making sure they don't end up with someone who'll start panicking when the backup systems start going haywire, that they aren't claustrophobic, etc.

I would think it's very difficult to screen for how someone will react to massive emotional stress. You can provoke an arachniphobe, for instance, into a panic attack by exposing them to any random spider. Likewise with someone who's claustrophobic: place them in a closet and they'll be panicking in a second.

But how do you simulate someone's marriage collapsing around them? Their feelings are for specific people, whereas a claustrophobe can be induced by any enclosed space.

[bleedingheart]

18. people snap...

there is a guy here in Pittsburgh that just shot his three kids (ages 8, 6, & 4)and himself over a divorce, although there is evidence in his case that he was nuts for a while...but the divorce is what set him off.

Nowak's affair may have been the catalyst...

[Horse with no Name]

19. It's hard to say

I feel for the woman and her family.
She obviously snapped for some reason or the other.
I heard on one of the talk shows that three of her friends were killed on the Columbia space shuttle. That may have been a factor.

[johnnie]

20. People are too hung up on relationships..

It doesn't matter who or what they are, some people just can't handle it.

[Phredicles]

21. Plus I read somewhere that she lost three classmates when the

other space shuttle went down a few years ago. I'm not excusing what she did, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to go through what she's gone through lately, either.

[Beaverhausen]

23. My guess is anti-depressants

either she stopped taking them, or just started and is one of those who they make worse, not better.

[Annces]

30. I bet you nailed it

Those things distort people sometimes.

[raccoon]

45. Now THAT is a real mofo.

"either she stopped taking them,"

[elehhhhna]

51. or never got any help when she felt unhinged. probably doesn't look good

on an astronauts resme to ask for psych help, eh?

[shain from kane]

28. I think it can all be traced back to potty training.

[Quantess]

38. LOL! I bet you are kind of right.

Why else would she insist on wearing diapers?
Oh, I know her "official" reason for wearing the diapers was to save time, so she wouldn't have to lose 2 minutes at a rest stop. But that makes very little sense, because she's going to have to change the diapers, and one would think she'd have to at least pull over to the side of the road to do that. And...if she was so pressed for time, why didn't she just leave home a little sooner instead?

Seems to me she has a fixation on diapers.
Maybe she was mentally regressing.

[Quantess]

29. Self Sabotage.

Maybe she's self sabotaging her big, important, career ambitions for some reason. Maybe she feels unworthy of true success, and would prefer "catastrophic success". Definitely some psychological issues.

Driving 900 miles in diapers to attack your rival is just not something a self-respecting person would do.

[XNASA]

31. Astro Mid Life Depression must be a bitch.

Think about it. You work you hardest and study and train to become the cream of the crop. Then one day.....POOF! You realize that the coolest thing you'll ever do....is behind you.

I wasn't an astronaut. I was a lowly TV Engineer, but I did work at JSC for 6 years. And even though I've done what many have before me....use my NASA resume to secure a nice, cushy job......I still miss working there. For the first couple of years after I left, I felt left out when there was a Shuttle mission going on...and I wasn't a part of it.

It must be really tough to take if you're an astronaut. I feel bad for her. I can somewhat empathize.

[KittyWampus]

34. thanks for your input. I'd love to hear more about your NASA days

:)

[PassingFair]

48. I think your name says it all....

:(

Sorry.....

I'm sure you'll come to terms with it!

[HuffleClaw]

32. it was the TANG !!!!!!!

[HuffleClaw]

33. don't worry, in about five minutes someone will decide its the MENS fault.

and hilarity will ensue.

[Cleita]

35. Apparently she was smart enough to give the right answers on

the psych test. I don't think they are that accurate anyway. It seems that some brainstorming is needed to develop new and more accurate tests.

[kskiska]

39. I doubt that anyone can predict what will happen

when love and passion come into the picture.

Betty Broderick, housewife, had a normal family life in La Jolla until her wealthy attorney husband (she'd sacrificed for his education) left her for his young secretary and changed Betty's life forever. He further enraged her by selling the house from under her and numerous other spiteful maneuvers. At one point Betty drove her car through his front door. Ultimately, Betty obtained the key to her newly-married ex-husband's house, crept up the stairs in the middle of the night, and blew him and his new wife to smithereens.

She's in prison now, but she doesn't have much remorse, knowing her ex-husband and his wife are not out there having a good time at her expense.

[AlCzervik]

40. i don't know but she was high functioning for sure.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

42. Sometimes there is a late-onset of mental illness.

A lot of manic depressives (bi-polars) don't start to show major symptoms until they are in their late 20's or even their 30's. Up until then, their illness probably helped them be an over-achiever (the manic phase - where you can do things twice as fast). A lot of bipolars are very successful - as long as they don't go too off the edge.

[DemBones DemBones]

44. Exactly. I would bet money that she is bipolar and that

this is the first real indication of it. Bipolar disorder can show up at any age, both in children and in adults well past their 30's.
Any list of high achievers will include a lot of people with bipolar disorder, which is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

I doubt she has been truly manic, or even hypo-manic, before. That's not something that can be hidden from family and co-workers.

[theboss]

47. I just want to know how she could drive all that way...in a diaper...

and never have a moment of wondering, "Hey....what am I doing here?"

[verse18]

49. Astronauts are human beings.

Anyone can snap under the weight of psychological and emotional stress and trauma. Astronauts are no different.

[NoSheep]

52. Maybe the "right stuff" is different than what we imagine!

[liberal renegade]

53. she's not an astronaut anymore

she's an astronut..

[Lethe]

54. you gotta be a little crazy to ride a rocket into outer space

i mean, c'mon.

[treestar]

55. The feds are in charge of the program for making that determination

For the past six years, they have been getting more and more inefficient and incompetent at everything they do.

Maybe they also need follow-ups (if a person was admitted years ago, the stress may have gotten to them).

[WinkyDink]

56. I doubt if love and lust are part of the screening.

[KenHodson]

57. Surely you don't believe in some magic test...

that shows perfect judgement. Hell, wouldn't we make presidential candidates take it?
Part of the human condition is that, potentially, a really big fuck up looms just around each and every corner.