Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival

Level 3 Advanced
1

Pre-reading 1

Look at the main headline. What do you think the story will be about?
1. A female alien recharges her batteries and dives from outer space to bomb another woman.
2. A woman astronaut loses her job when she is accused of attempted murder.
3. An actress playing a character like Wonder Woman is electrocuted when her rocket crashes.

Pre-reading 2

Now read the sub-headings. Do they help you to decide?

Key words

Matchthesekeywordsfromthetextwiththedenitionsbelow.
a shuttle

alleged
screening

a nappy

a tracking device
docked
stalking

1. ____________ A piece of electronic equipment that lets the police know where you are, wherever you go.
2. ____________ A piece of soft material usually worn by babies, who cant use the toilet.
3. ____________ Checking very carefully that someone is suitable for a job.
4. ____________ Watching and following someone all the time in a frightening way because you have an
excessive interest in them.
5. ____________ Said to be true, but not yet proved in court.
6. ____________ Joined to another spacecraft while still in space.
7. ____________ A space vehicle that travels to outer space and back to Earth.

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NEWS LESSONS / Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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Now read the text quickly to see if you were right.

Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival

Level 3 Advanced

1 Last July, it took Lisa Nowak 12 days, 18 hours,

37 minutes and 54 seconds, travelling a distance
of 5.3 million miles, to win her position in one of
the worlds most elite clubs: travellers in space.
Last Monday, it took her about 14 hours, and a
journey of 950 miles, to lose it.

7 Most peculiarly, she wore a nappy on the journey

toreducetheneedforstopsaninhousetrick
as astronauts wear nappies during take off and
landing.

2 Yesterday, Mrs Nowak was charged with

attemptedrstdegreemurderinthemostbizarre
incidentinvolvinganyofNASAsactiveduty
astronauts. The charge, together with others of
attempted kidnapping and battery, relate to an
apparent love triangle she was involved in with
a fellow male astronaut and a female air force
captain whom she suspected of being a rival to
his affections.

8 Thepoliceafdavitstatesthatshehad
discovered that Colleen Shipman, a US air force
captain,wasyinginfromHoustontoOrlando
that night.

3 A Florida judge ruled last night that Mrs Nowak

couldbettedwithatrackingdeviceand
released from custody if she could come up with
$25,000 (13,000) bail and did not contact her
alleged victim.

10 He is Bill Oefelein, 41, from Alaska, who

underwent astronaut training with Mrs Nowak
andlikeherwentintospaceforthersttime
lastyear,alsoonDiscovery,althoughtheyhave
neverowntogether.EvidenceofMrsNowaks
feelings towards Mr Oefelein were found in a
letter in her car, together with emails between
him and Ms Shipman, as well as directions
to Ms Shipmans house. In her statement to
police, Mrs Nowak said she had more than a
working relationship, but less than a romantic
relationship with him.

4 Tosaythegrouptowhich43yearoldMrs
Nowak belongs is select is an understatement:
she is one of only 97 astronauts currently trained
andreadytoy,20ofthemwomen.NASAhas
selected a total of just 321 astronauts since the
US agency began preparing to go into space in
1959.
5 All of which makes her behaviour in the early
hoursofMondaysobafing.Themarriedmother
of three, separated from her husband, who had
been subjected to NASAs rigorous screening
process and trained for 10 years to cope with
extremestressbeforeherightintheDiscovery
space shuttle, embarked on her own private
mission.

9 Mrs Nowak wanted to be there to scare her,

she later told police, into talking about her
relationship with the man at the centre of the love
triangle.

11 Ms Shipman allegedly saw Mrs Nowak, whom

she had never met before, wearing a hooded
trench coat, dark glasses and the wig, following
her on a bus from the airport lounge to the car
park. Afraid, she hurried to her car. She could
hear running footsteps behind her and as she
slammed the door Mrs Nowak slapped the
window and tried to pull the door open.

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NEWS LESSONS / Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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Shuttle astronaut arrested after alleged airport

attack. Male colleague said to be at centre of
love triangle.
Ed Pilkington in New York
February 7, 2007

6 By her own admission to Orlando police, Mrs

Nowaksetoutonher950miledrivefrom
Houston, Texas, to Orlando on Sunday carrying
withheracarbondioxidepoweredpelletgun,a
foldingknifewithafourinchblade,pepperspray,
a steel mallet and $600 in cash. She also had
several large black bin liners, six latex gloves and
rubber tubing, as well as a wig and two hooded
trench coats for disguise.

Spacewoman falls to Earth on charge

of trying to kill love rival

Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival

Level 3 Advanced
12 Can you help me, please? My boyfriend was
supposed to pick me up and he is not here, Mrs
Nowak is alleged to have pleaded. When Ms
Shipman said she could not help, the astronaut
started to cry. Ms Shipman wound down her
window a couple of inches at which Mrs Nowak
let off the pepper spray. Ms Shipman drove off,
her eyes burning, and raised the alarm. She
alleges the astronaut had been stalking her for
around two months.
13 Sergeant Barb Jones of Orlando police said last
night: The intent was there to cause serious
bodily injury or death. Mrs Nowaks behaviour
and subsequent appearance in court has
amazedpeopleintherareedworldofspace
exploration. Tariq Malik, who covers shuttle
missions for the website space.com and who
interviewed Mrs Nowak shortly before she went
into space, said astronauts were carefully chosen
and trained so that surprises did not happen.

toyinverycrampedspacesandunderintense
stress so they have to be able to cope.
15 Mrs Nowak had a key technical role in the July
ight,inchargeofaroboticarmforrepairingthe
international space station with which it docked.
16 Beforethemission,shesaidshehadrst
become interested in space at the age of
vewhenshewatchedthemoonlandingon
television, and on visits to the Air and Space
Museum in Washington.
17 Herofcialphotographtakenbeforetheight
shows her in full astronauts suit, smiling broadly.
Yesterday a picture with a difference was running
on TV screens: Mrs Nowak as she was booked
into jail, her forehead creased, eyes pinched,
shoulders hunched and hair askew. NASA put
herona30daysuspensionandremovedher
from all shuttle mission activities.

14 They go through deep medical and

psychological screening, he said. They have

Guardian News & Media 2007

First published in The Guardian, 7/2/07

4 General understanding
Match the beginnings and endings of these sentences:

She was afraid that

Her employers had made an effort to check that
It was clear that she planned to attack somebody
The man she was in love with
When Mrs Nowak approached Ms Shipman
Mrs Nowak pretended she just wanted to talk
She had been fascinated by space travel

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h

her lover was seeing another woman.

because she took a lot of weapons with her.
shewasnoteasytorecognize.
but as soon as she could, she hurt Ms Shipman.
she was a perfectly suitable astronaut.
since she was a small child.
was wasted in a few hours of jealous anger.
had studied with her to be an astronaut.

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NEWS LESSONS / Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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The time Mrs Nowak spent becoming an astronaut

1
2
3
14
5
6
7
8

Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival

Level 3 Advanced
5 Vocabulary development
Find words in the text that mean the following. The paragraph numbers are given.
1. extremely strange (2)
2. the crime of hitting someone (2)
3. being kept in prison until you go to court (3)
4. money you leave with the court to make sure you appear for your trial (3)
5. confusing (adj) (5)
6. legal document containing someones statement (8)
7. shut very loudly (11)
8. hit with the palm of your hand (11)
9. extremely special and unusual (13)
10. writes reports about (13)

6 Collocations
From memory, complete the collocations below with words from the box.
intense
admission

custody
court

carefully
shuttle
screening
cramped

1. released from _____________

2. rigorous ____________ process
3. space ____________
4. by her own ____________
5. appearance in ____________
6. ____________ chosen
7. very ____________ spaces
8. under ____________ stress

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NEWS LESSONS / Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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Now scan the text quickly to see if you were right.

Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival

Level 3 Advanced
7 Compound words
Match the beginnings and endings of these compound adjectives and nouns from memory.

rst
active
folding
4inch
pepper
bin
latex
rubber
in

spray
blade
tubing
house
gloves
degree
liners
duty
knife

First scan the text to see if you were right. Then complete the descriptions below with one of the
compound expressions.
1. You can cut things with this, and keep it safely in your pocket: _______________.
2. You can wear these to protect your hands: _______________.
3. Akindofexiblepipethatcanholdliquidorgas:_______________.
4. People who work for the military as their main job are on _______________.
5. The cutting part of a knife, about 10 cm long: _______________.
6. Describingsomethingthatisdoneinsideacompany:_______________.
7. Large plastic bags that go inside rubbish containers: _______________.
8. Very painful liquid that can burn your face or blind you: _______________.
9. If you kill somebody because you intend to, the murder is called _______________.

8 Discussion
WhataspectsofMrsNovaksbehaviourdoyousympathizewith?
What aspects are you critical of?
What do you think would be a suitable punishment?

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NEWS LESSONS / Spacewoman on charge of trying to kill love rival / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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Would you like to be an astronaut? Why / why not?