NASA cuts loose troubled astronaut

Shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak, the first astronaut ever charged with a felony (attempted kidnapping, among other crimes), has been terminated by NASA. Technically, Nowak, as a naval officer, has not been fired, but simply has been returned to the Navy for any further action. NASA hopes to move quickly beyond the Nowak distraction to let administrators refocus on other problems at the critically underfunded space program, but media fascination and the involvement of another astronaut (Bill Oefelein, the alleged object of an obsession on Nowak's part) unfortunately guarantees this black eye for the agency will take a long time to heal.