The Observer, March 9, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 20
World and Nation
Astronaut charged with attempted kidnapping fired from NASA
CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — Astronaut Lisa Nowak was fired from NASA on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
NASA officials said Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant.
If Nowak were a civil servant, NASA would have the choice of placing her on administrative leave, leave without pay or indefinite suspension until the charges are resolved, said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston. But because she is an officer, those options are not available.
Nowak, a captain in the Navy, instead will return to the military.
Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey notified Nowak late last month that she was to be fired from the astronaut corps.
Her dimissal marked the first time NASA has publicly fired an astronaut, according to space historian Roger Launius of the Smithsonian Institution. She is also the first active astronaut to be charged with a felony, he said.
Nowak, a mother of three, is accused of confronting the woman at the Orlando airport after driving from Houston while wearing an astronaut diaper so that she would not have to stop.
She allegedly pepper-sprayed the woman through a partially lowered car window. In Nowak's vehicle, police found a BB gun, new steel mallet, a knife, and rubber tubing.
The woman was the girlfriend of another astronaut, Bill Oefelein, who previously had a romantic relationship with Nowak.
Nowak, 43, pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault. She was released on bail wearing a monitoring device on her ankle.
Nazi documents being readied for scholars, but politics could delay release
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The director of a long-secret archive of Nazi records said Wednesday that preparations for allowing scholars access are moving faster than expected and the entire collection will be ready for research within a year.
But unless the 11 governing nations overcome legal hurdles, it could take years before the documents are actually released.
U.S. officials said a majority of the countries were likely to complete procedures within two months. But under existing arrangements, all 11 must endorse the agreement before it can be implemented, and some require approval from their parliaments.
Reto Meister, the head of the Tracing Service, which runs the archive, said he will seek approval from the commission to immediately begin preparations for relaying digital copies to organizations such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Israel's Yad Vashem memorial so that files can be released once the political green light is given.
Of the 11 countries, only the United States, Israel, and Poland have endorsed the agreement lifting restrictions on research, which comes in the form of amendments to a 1955 treaty.
Officials said they believe Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Britain, and Greece will ratify the amendments before the next meeting in May. Action by France could be delayed by the presidential election in April, and the positions of Belgium and Italy were unclear.
Meister said he hoped this week's meeting would approve a draft set of rules for scholars to begin using all the documents at Bad Arolsen as early as possible. Until now, a few researchers have been allowed access to the archive's historical section, but personal records of victims have remained off-limits.
