Arrest mars stellar career 

US Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak made it to one of the most exclusive clubs in the world - the US astronaut corps, which beckons thousands but hires few.

But overnight she became the haggard woman in the police mugshot plastered all over the Internet and dubbed "the astro-nut" by the gossipy Washington political website wonkette.com.

Since the United States chose the first seven astronauts for its Mercury manned space programme in 1959, only 321 US citizens have been admitted to the elite ranks of those with the elusive "right stuff" to fly in space.

Since NASA began hiring astronauts for the shuttle program in 1978, more than 37,400 people have applied but only 248 made the cut.

Nowak, 43, beat even greater odds by becoming one of only 46 women ever to fly in space. She was the flight engineer on space shuttle Discovery's July 2006 flight to the International Space Station, one of two women crewmates nicknamed the "robo-chicks" because they operated the shuttle's robotic arm.

Nowak's stellar career took a startling turn with her arrest in Orlando on Tuesday on charges of trying to kidnap and kill a woman she considered a rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut, US Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein.

Nowak has not responded to the charges, and has not yet been asked to enter a plea.

"In spite of all the cheerful NASA publicity, the astronauts are only human beings after all," said Pat Santy, a psychiatrist affiliated with the University of Michigan who used to assist NASA with astronaut selection.

"I'm sure it is shocking to find out that they have unhappy marriages, engage in affairs, have problems with their kids, act out in all sorts of inappropriate ways," Santy wrote in her web log.

Nowak, who is married to a NASA flight controller and has three children, had waited 10 years since being chosen as an astronaut for her chance to fly in space last year.

She said before her voyage that with the shuttle programme ending in 2010, there was not much chance for a second flight but that she looked forward to helping NASA prepare for its follow-on program to send astronauts to the moon.

Nowak had been assigned to serve as the primary communications liaison for the crew of the shuttle Atlantis, which is due to launch next month.

Like all astronauts, she underwent intense personality profiling and psychological testing before being admitted to the astronaut corps - the most elite of the elite.

But despite the superstar culture, NASA has always known that its astronauts are "actually rather normal people," said Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee who now runs the nasawatch.com Web site.

"The only difference between her (Nowak) and any other technology professional is that sometimes she gets to walk around in a silver space suit. She's subject to all the temptations and weaknesses as everybody else," Cowing told Reuters.

Back in 1998, Reuters asked several astronauts to ponder the possibility that NASA might allow sex in space as men and women shared close quarters during potential missions to Mars that could last as long as three years.

Nowak, then 35, said she thought men and women could mix platonically on such a mission because the excitement of becoming the first human on Mars would overcome earthly desires.

"We're all professionals," she said.