Out There by Diane Fanning

Lisa Nowak was dedicated, smart, and courageous—one of the first astronauts to fly a space shuttle mission after the horrific 2003 Columbia disaster. But that was before a fit of pure, primal jealousy landed her in an airport parking lot in Florida, where Lisa had a fateful, near-fatal confrontation with the woman believed to be her romantic rival.Did Lisa intend to kidnap—or kill—Air Force captain Colleen Shipman because she was involved with fellow astronaut William Oefelein? What was the nature of Lisa's connection with William: True love or dangerous obsession? As the details of Lisa's news-making journey unfolded—she donned a disguise, even wore a diaper during her 900-mile car ride to find Colleen—Americans couldn't help but wonder: Why?

Out There is another great book by Diane Fanning.This book is an extremely easy read and wonderful to follow.The story itself as outlined above is eye catching and hard to believe.The main story is not a run of the mill true crime story for the fact that the crime itself is quite trivial in terms of the crimes we get to read about in other true crime books.

The exceptional part of this book comes when the writer Diane Fanning starts to explore the background of this Lisa Nowak.I, as a reader, entered a world I never knew existed. The world of astronauts,the programs, the work involved, the training, the arduous hours. Diane Fanning provides a great insight into the ambitions of some individuals on this earth. The entire space program and the information on this which is in this book is very much from an insider point of view.It is exceptional and Diane Fanning earns herself an accolade for the way it is presented and for the hours which must have been spent on research.

The story itself is original and the main character being an astronaut definitely adds to the intrigue.The fact that Lisa Nowak was so highly educated immediately made me want to find out what exactly could have gone so wrong that she would end up in a situation like that.I have come to the conclusion,in this case, that being in a loveless marriage can be soul destroying,and to have your soul destroyed from lack of love does not target any specific individual.All human beings need love,even the highly intelligent ones.Love is as basic a need as food.This story convinced me of that.

This book is a bit of a disappointment in that the court case is not finalized and Lisa Nowak was still free by the end of the book. What Diane Fanning does offer is a great ending thoughtful chapter on the future of NASA,its space program and the astronauts involved in this program and the possible way forward for them.

I would recommend reading this book for the amazing information on the NASA Space program and not because it is a true crime book. I was in absolute wonder of how things work “Out There”.

To find out more about this book please go to any of the links below

Out There By Diane Fanning- Kalahari Books for South African readers and this following Amazon link for other readers
Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case that Shocked America

I read this book in March 2009.It has 278 pages and 8 pages of photographs.Nothing too personal on Lisa Nowak but rather photos throughout her career as an astronaut.