ORLANDO, Fla. - Until a few months ago, Lisa Nowak's life seemed to be on a perfect trajectory.

NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak is shown at left in a March 2005 photo provided by NASA, and at right in a Feb. 2007 photo provided by the Orange County, Fla. Sheriff's Department. [AP]

She became an astronaut after winning a series of Navy service awards. She had flown on the shuttle Discovery, and was a mother of three children. She said in a September interview with Ladies Home Journal that her husband, Richard, "works in Mission Control, so he's part of the whole space business, too. And supportive also."

But even before she was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping and three other crimes - all stemming from what police called a love triangle involving a fellow astronaut - there were signs that not everything was right in her life.

In a NASA interview last year, before her mission aboard Discovery, she spoke about the strain her career placed on her family. She has twin 5-year-old girls and a son who is 14 or 15.

"It's a sacrifice for our own personal time and our families and the people around us," she said. "But I do think it's worth it because if you don't explore and take risks and go do all these things, then everything will stay the same."

In November, a neighbor reported hearing the sounds of dishes being thrown inside Nowak's Houston-area home, and the police came. And weeks ago, Nowak and her husband separated after 19 years.

The final unraveling came this week after police arrested her for allegedly trying to kidnap a woman she believed was her rival for the affections of astronaut William Oefelein.

"Perplexed is the word that I'm sticking with," said astronaut Chris Ferguson, who attended Nowak's bail hearing in Orlando with chief astronaut Steve Lindsey.

Police officers charged Nowak with trying to murder Colleen Shipman based on weapons and other items found with Nowak or in her car: pepper spray, a BB-gun, a new steel mallet, knife and rubber tubing.

After Nowak posted a $25,500 bail Tuesday evening, she walked out of jail with a jacket thrown over her head, mobbed by two dozen reporters and cameramen. A tracking device was later placed on her ankle as a condition of her release. The judge ordered Nowak to stay away from Shipman.

Her lawyer, Donald Lykkebak, took issue with the most serious charges.

"In the imaginations of the police officers, they extend these facts out into areas where the facts can't be supported," Lykkebak said.

Shipman filed a request for a protective order against Nowak in a Florida court on Tuesday, asking that Nowak be prohibited from going within 500 feet of her, the Houston Chronicle reported. A hearing on the request was set for Feb. 20, the paper said.

In the handwritten request cited by the paper, Shipman said Nowak had stalked her for two months and did not say whether she is, in fact, involved with Oefelein.

NASA put Nowak on a 30-day leave and removed her from mission activities.

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