Firing Lisa Nowak before she’s had an opportunity for a fair trial is outrageous. They could have left her on leave pending the outcome of the trial, couldn’t they? Instead they took the classic “guilty until proven innocent” road.
Here’s what really frosts me about this: NASA hasn’t really looked hard at the psychological effects of putting someone up in space in a small enclosed environment for a long period of time and then returning to life here on earth. And not just life, but a very public life involving travel and a lot of public speaking. Consider the idea of being locked in one room for 4 months isolated from everyone you love and care about, returning to them months later, being expected to travel and be a part of the NASA PR machine with no real evaluation of psychological or stress-related disorders.
My guess is that Lisa Nowak’s defense has already done some psychiatric evaluations. Possibly physical as well — perimenopause does weird things to people, too — hormones and all that.
Shame on NASA for taking action now instead of waiting for facts to emerge.
Technorati Tags: LIsa Nowak, NASA
