Posted Feb 25, 2007 at 12:25AM by Dia A. Listed in: NASA Tags: NASA, Space Shuttle, Lisa Nowak, Shuttle, Bungee, Associated Press
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Lisa Nowak - Image 1This month, American astronaut and US Navy Captain Lisa Marie Nowak got arrested and subsequently charged with attempted murder of US Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, a woman Nowak thought was her rival for another astronaut's affections.

This happening spawned talk of how NASA deals with unstable astronauts in space. As you may well know, would-be space scientists are carefully tested and screened to eliminate those who are unstable. A mentally unstable astronaut could cause all sorts of havoc that could endanger their crew members in a space station.

It turns out that NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. Associated Press declares that these procedures include binding the questionable astronaut's wrists and ankles with duct tape, tying him down with a bungee cord and injecting him with tranquilizers if necessary.

There are no weapons, no guns in a space shuttle; a bullet could pierce a space ship and could kill everyone. There are no stun guns on hand, either. As a precaution, space station kits contain anti-depression and tranquilizers, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications. No NASA astronaut has ever been treated with these medications while on space; then again, like what was mentioned above, it seems that there's nothing a roll of duct tape couldn't fix.

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