Former US astronaut denies wearing nappies

A FORMER US astronaut charged with trying to kidnap the girlfriend of a space shuttle pilot did not wear nappies during her 1,500km trip to confront her romantic rival, her attorney said yesterday.

“The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has been told is that my client drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, non-stop, wearing a diaper,” Donald Lykkebak said after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak’s criminal case.

The claim that Nowak wore nappies during her trip was written in the police report filed after Nowak’s February arrest. The detail became fodder for late-night television comics and talk radio across the US.&

There were toddler-size nappies in her car when she was arrested, but they were several years old, Lykkebak said. Nowak and her family had used them when Houston was evacuated in 2005 during Hurricane Rita, he said.

Nowak was dismissed from the astronaut corps a month after her arrest.

Nowak, 44, was charged with attempted kidnapping, burglary with assault and battery during a confrontation at Orlando International Airport with Colleen Shipman, the girlfriend of former astronaut William Oefelein. Oefelein told detectives he had a two-year relationship with Nowak but ended it some time after he started a relationship with Shipman.