NASA Astronaut Fired As Steamy Emails Surface With Clues To Possible Cause Of Her Bizarre Actions

“[My] first urge will be to rip your clothes off, throw you on the ground and love the hell out of you.”

Was that sentence enough to have sent a well liked and much respected astronaut off the deep end?

It’s the latest twist in the case of Lisa Nowak, a now ex-NASA shuttle specialist, accused of attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault on a woman said to be her rival.

NASA finally fired the astronaut on Wednesday, after she became a very public embarrassment to the space agency.

Her story made headlines last month, when Nowak drove more than a thousand kilometres non-stop from Houston to Orlando, allegedly to confront U.S. Air Force captain Colleen Shipman.

She wore adult diapers so she wouldn’t have to stop along her route and allegedly peppered sprayed the woman in a confrontation in her car.

Now court documents show what some think may have precipitated that wild ride – steamy emails exchanged between Shipman and the apparent object of affection for both women, astronaut Bill Oefelein.

The letters were sent to Oefelein while he was floating in space aboard the shuttle in December. He only opened them after he returned to Earth. NASA allows designated individuals to send unmonitored email to astronauts during a mission and Shipman was on the list. 

“First urge will be to rip your clothes off, throw you on the ground and love the hell out of you,” one sentence reads.

Another, sent the next month, displays a similar tone.

“I love you and I am head-over-heels IN love with you.”

Oefelein’s response was equally revealing. “You must really have me around your finger that I can’t even function without you here,” he wrote.

“You’re hot … and I miss you … I need to see you. I am having Colleen withdrawals.”

It’s believed Nowak got wind of the mash notes and that may have triggered her apparent rage against her rival. 

Oefelein has always maintained that his romantic relationship with her lasted only a few years before he broke it off to be with Shipman.

But court documents seized from Nowak indicate she didn’t believe it was over. She was in the process of divorcing her husband so she could join her perceived beau.

“Bill is absolutely the best person I’ve ever known and I love him more than I knew possible,” she wrote to Oefelein’s mother.

When a bewigged Nowak was arrested on February 5th, investigators discovered a BB gun, a new steel mallet, a knife, rubber tubing and the letters she allegedly pilfered from Oefelein’s apartment in her possession.

Evidence indicates Shipman was worried about Nowak long before there was cause.

She told detectives probing the case that she asked Oefelein “point-blank” if his romantic relationship with his former shuttlemate was over.

“I said, ‘Is there gonna be some crazy lady showing up at my door, trying to kill me?’ He said, ‘No … she’s not like that. She’s fine with it. She’s happy for me.'”

Nowak has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her. She was released from jail with an ankle bracelet monitoring her movements.