Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Passion of the astronauts

Sometimes you can read a news story and instantly visualize the made-for-TV-movie that it will spawn. The lede graf (is that what they call it?):
An astronaut drove 900 miles and donned a disguise to confront a woman she believed was her rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, police said. She was arrested Monday and charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts.

This part is just really weird. I don't know if it'll go in the movie:
When she found out that Shipman was flying to Orlando from Houston, Nowak decided to confront her, according to the arrest affidavit. Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers so she wouldn't have to stop to urinate, authorities said.
Astronauts wear diapers during launch and re-entry.

5 comments:

Wooster said...

I have a special phrase for this kind of thing: Only in Texas. Somehow it seems that almost every total human car wreck of a story is linked to Texas - we breed 'em special!
Examples:
Woman who hired hitman to kill daughter's cheerleading rival.
Nurse who hit a homeless man then left him to die in her windsheild in her garage.
Woman who repeatedly ran over her husband after he left her...because she loved him so much.

Anonymous said...

If they were going to launch me into outerspace, I'd sure need a diaper.

Stephen said...

gentry, I think Florida has you beat, but only by a little. But both states have had a Bush brother as governor, and both states are key to the space program. . .hmmmm.

I wonder how many 4th-graders would change their career goals if they knew about the whole diapers at takeoff thing.

Dana Watson said...

Not just a made for TV movie! Oh, no, my mother and I are predicting an entire new genre of TV pseudo-soap operas, edging out the tired old hospital drama. The time has clearly come for the NASA drama! Think of the possibilities! No more reliance on the actual story of what happened, just hot girls and guys going through rigorous, stressful training (like med school), then put in a small, enclosed, zero-G space. It'll be big.

opit said...

I was a compulsive reader - of tripe - since young. The mental framework of separation from reality it engenders is what I think of when watching people engrossed in TV ( or perhaps internet addiction ? )
Looking at your comparison to how it would play on TV makes me wonder what kind of dream relationship with reality the astronaut is having.
Do you fancy yourself a member of a logical species ? ( Laughs wryly )