could it be because it's the first time, in the history of the space program, that an astronaut, one of an elite, small group of highly educated, skilled, trained individuals, has ever been arrested and charged with a felony?

nah, couldn't possibly be that. it must be because she's woman. yeah, that's the ticket. had she not been a she, no one would have even noticed, would've flown (so to speak) right under the media radar. right, and smithfield has actually found a way to make silk purses out of sow's ears.

it's probably why you only hear about woman in congress who screw up, never the men. yep, that old double standard again.

puhleazzzzzzzzzzzzzze! i note you neglected any mention of the other two paries in this sordid affair, one male, the other female, both also astronauts, and both also military officers. all three will be subject to sanctions under the UCMJ, a fact that has also been highlighted in the news. however did you miss that?

what would make a married mother of three and an accomplished astronaut -- one of only 106 overall active U.S. astronauts and one of only 24 active U.S. women astronauts, according to NASA -- jeopardize and potentially sacrifice her family, her future and her successful career for a love affair?

Big, fresh, steaming piles of it.

We've been fed fifty years of NASA propaganda on how steely-eyed, corn-fed, All-American, kind to animals and small children, perfect and perfectly trained their astros and families are, and for this to come crashing through is, uh, pretty satisfying for the 99-44/100 percent of us whose lives and/or families are neither wildly successful nor perfect, or maybe have done something stupid in the name of love (or something that looks like it).  Or all of the above.

And, while this is the first time "anything like this" has ever happened, I'd suspect (a) it really isn't and (b) in the prior incidents, the local cops had the sense, or the prudence, to keep quiet until Houston got involved and quietly closed the issue.  Go back and re-read "The Right Stuff" or similar books.  I also suspect the real reason NASA is so up-in-arms over this, is that the press got to the Orlando police before NASA did.

1. Chopper goes down
   
2. Blurb in media - the words " possible mechanical trouble" used instead of shot down.
   
3. Truth comes out one week later while media beats off on astronaut's nervous breakdown.

Let's add to that this same crazy person was in space last year.  So I think it is a highly relative story, what had happened say instead of driving 1000 miles all she had to do was push a couple of buttons or twist a few valves and brought down the shuttle or the space station.

Then we find out NASA doesn't perform mental stability testing, WOW !!

I think it is a very inside look into the ability of NASA to keep crazy people out of space, especially when said crazy person is in a love triangle that could have landed all three up in space at the same time and possible on the space station.

Call me crazy, but this could have turned into an international disaster setting the space program back a decade and costing US another zillion dollars.

i suppose there is a bit of schadenfreude involved, there always is, when it involves a publicly very successful person. however, that doesn't negate the fact that the incident, especially because of who was involved, is certainly newsworthy. worth 24/7 coverage? no. but then, when you have 24/7 news, you need a lot of filler.

desertswine, nasa was asked this very question, and says it doesn't know for sure. however, it pointed out the the lack of privacy in the station and the shuttles would probably be an inhibiting factor.

  At the very least this rule would  save us the feigned failure to grasp the obvious, the extremely tiresome posing as superior because youi are not interested, (yet, you always find it necessary to tell us that you are not interested) and the foolish echos from the chamber that it's more evidence of a consporacy to hide the "rela news."

it didn't make me feel better about me, i just felt shocked, and saddened for the families. also, surprised that it (or something like it) hasn't happened before, or at least made the news.