NPR: Astronaut in Love Triangle Sent Back to the Navy

Astronaut in Love Triangle Sent Back to the Navy

At one point in "The Right Stuff," then-budding astronaut John Glenn lectures his fellow Mercury 7 teammates about keeping their "wicks dry." It's advice that shuttle pilot Cmdr. William Oefelein might have been wise to follow.

Oefelein is, of course, the love interest in the now infamous Lisa Nowak astronaut triangle. Well, Gannett News Service reports that NASA apparently has had enough of the Top Gun flyboy and is shipping him back to the Navy. "The Navy and NASA have mutually agreed to end his detail to NASA," said Kylie Clem, a spokeswoman at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. (Yeah, right. And my children and I mutually agreed that they'll stop watching so much TV.) Nowak was sent back to the Navy a few months ago.

Both Nowak and Oefelein also could face courts-martial for cheating on their spouses, conduct that the military considers unbecoming of an officer, officials said. Oefelein is divorced and Nowak is separated. They are the first NASA astronauts to be sent back to their military branch after a public scandal. Nowak is the first astronaut ever arrested on felony charges.

1:26 PM ET | 05-29-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

An unfortunate situation to be sure. However, military officers that are NASA Astronauts, serve as a privilege and are held to a different standard than any civilian employees. Dishonor or misconduct of course warrants the dismissal or re-assignment of said officers.

A distasteful and lasting stain on a Space Program that cannot afford negative press at the moment. Saddening.

Sent by Chris Darling | 4:23 PM ET | 05-29-2007

This is a bad situation thats true. It takes all types to make up a world and NASA is no exception. this does give NASA a black eye, however black eyes do heal and you move on. so lets finished the healing process and move on the real NASA business (SEEING WHATS OUT THERE).

Sent by Edward M. Powell Jr. | 9:54 AM ET | 05-30-2007

Detracts from the fact that:
NASA is not authorized by the US Constitution.
NASA is not a core government function. It is just a way to suck up tax dollars and appear to be doing something that the government can legititmately do.
Space travel should be left to private enterprise, which should raise its own money and take its own risks.

Sent by William Udy | 6:18 PM ET | 05-30-2007

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