Love in outer space -- or -- spaced out love -- or -- looking for love in all the wrong spaces -- wh

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Astronaut Lisa Nowak Tuesday was ordered released

on an additional $10,000 bond for an attempted murder charge involving a

romantic rival.

Nowak, 43, had earlier posted a $15,500 bond on charges of attempted

kidnapping, battery and attempted burglary of a car with battery. But, her

release was halted as Orlando Police brought the attempted murder charge.

As a condition of her release, Nowak was ordered to wear a global

positioning satellite device, known as a GPS.

Nowak, a Navy Captain, is accused of accosting Air Force Capt. Colleen

Shipman, 30, in the parking lot of Orlando International Airport early

Monday and spraying her with pepper spray. She told police she only wanted

to talk with Shipman. (Watch what it takes to become an astronaut )

Nowak and Shipman were both "in a relationship" with Navy Cmdr. Bill

Oefelein, another astronaut, according to a police report of the incident.

Nowak told police her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working

relationship and less than a romantic relationship." (Watch how police say a

NASA love triangle went awry )

Shipman has filed for a restraining order on Nowak in Brevard County, where

Shipman lives and works, according to a copy of the order on the county's

Web site.

In the paperwork for the order, Shipman said that Nowak had been stalking

her for the past two months. A hearing for the order is scheduled for

February 20.

Nowak, a married mother of three, made both of her court appearances

shackled and wearing a dark-colored jumpsuit. In the afternoon session, for

the attempted murder charge, she kept her eyes straight ahead. (Watch a

shackled Nowak bow her head as attorneys discuss her bail with the judge )

Her attorney, Donald Lykkebak, argued the judge should not find probable

cause for the attempted murder charge because it was based on the same

incident as the original charges. And he accused Orlando police of wanting a

"second bite of the apple."

Nowak's supervisor at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, retired

Air Force Col. Steve Lindsey, testified at her morning court appearance.

Lindsey -- who was the commander of Nowak's shuttle flight last year --

assured the judge that Nowak would not have contact with Shipman or have any

need to travel to Patrick Air Force Base, where Shipman works, or nearby

Kennedy Space Center.

NASA grounds Nowak

Michael Coates, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, later

issued a statement saying Nowak "is officially on 30-day leave and has been

removed from flight status and all mission-related activities."

"We are deeply saddened by this tragic event. The charges against Lisa Nowak

are serious ones that must be decided by the judicial system," the statement

said.

Nowak's family is declining media interviews but released a statement from

their home in Rockville, Maryland.

"We are naturally saddened and extremely concerned about the serious

allegations being made against Lisa. We love her very much, and right now,

our primary focus is on her health and well-being," the family's statement

said.

"Lisa is an extremely caring and dedicated mother to her three children. She

has been married for 19 years, although she and her husband had separated a

few weeks ago," the statement said.

"Considering both her personal and professional life, these alleged events

are completely out of character and have come as a tremendous shock to our

family," the statement said.

"We hope that the public will keep an open mind about what the facts will

eventually show and that the legal system will be allowed to run its

course."

According to the arresting affidavits, Nowak drove from Houston to Orlando

after discovering Shipman's flight plans on Oefelein's computer.

She printed out detailed maps for the trip, which were found in her car

during a police search, along with handwritten directions to Shipman's home.

En route, she paid cash for hotel stays and registered under an assumed

name.

Once in Orlando, according to the arresting affidavits, Nowak followed

Shipman from the airport to her car in a satellite parking lot, where the

confrontation took place about 3:45 a.m. Wearing a wig and glasses, Nowak

approached Shipman as she got into her car and told her Nowak's boyfriend

had not shown up to pick her up and she needed a ride.

Shipman refused, saying she would send help instead. When Nowak complained

she couldn't hear Shipman and started to cry, Shipman opened her car window

"about two inches" -- and Nowak sprayed pepper spray into the car, police

said.

Shipman drove away and found police, who located Nowak at a bus stop. They

also found a wig and a plastic bag containing a carbon dioxide-powered BB

pistol in a nearby trash can, the report said.

Inside a bag Nowak was carrying, the officer found a tan trench coat, a new

steel mallet, a new folding knife with a 4-inch blade, 3 to 4 feet of rubber

tubing, several large plastic garbage bags and about $600 in cash, the

report said.

Nowak admitted the details of Shipman's story, according to the police

report, and permitted a search of her car.

Inside the car, police found an a half dozen latex gloves, MapQuest

directions from Houston to Orlando International Airport, e-mails from

Shipman to Oefelein, diapers Nowak said she wore to reduce stops along the

highway and a letter indicating how much she loved Oefelein.

It is standard procedure for astronauts to wear diapers when they suit up

for launch and re-entry.

Nowak, who has been an astronaut since 1996, flew her first shuttle mission

last July, serving as a mission specialist aboard the Discovery. Oefelein,

41, was the pilot of the most recent shuttle mission, also aboard Discovery,

which flew in December 2006.

After Tuesday's court appearance, Lindsey said he was there to support Nowak

"like we would any employee at NASA if they were to get into this

situation."

"We're a close family and we try to take care of our own," he added.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/06/astronaut.arrested/index.html

The male astronaut who is in the middle of this may have some explaining to

do, too.

"The soul of a lover liveth in another body, and not in his own." Plutarch,

Life of Marcus Anonius.

"There Antonius showed plainly that he had not only lost the courage and heart

of an emperor, but also of a valiant man, and that he was not his own man; he

was so carried away with the vain love of this woman, as if he had been glued

onto her, and that she could not have removed without moving of him also. For

when he saw Celopatra's ship under sail, he forgot, forsook, and betrayed them

that fought for him, and embarked upon a galley with five banks of oars, to

follow her that had already begun to overthrow him, and would in the end be

his utter destruction."

Thus showing that folly lives in high places, not just astronauts.

By the way, the much maligned movie "Cleopatra" really stuck closer to

Plutarch than even Shakespeare did. Plutarch wrote a lot of the dialog.

"They (Octavian's men) found Cleopatra stark dead, laid upon a bed of gold,

attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of her two women, which was

called Iras, dead at her feet; and her other woman called Charmion, half dead,

and trembling, trimming the diadem which Cleopatra ware upon her head. One of

the soldiers, seeing her, angrily said unto her, "Is that well done,

Charmion?" "Very well," said she again, "and meet for a princess descended

from the race of so many noble kings." She said no more, but fell down dead

hard by the bed.