1. They‘d ground the shuttle," Santy told The Associated Press.

2. In the military, pilots going through extraordinary stress, such as a divorce, are ordered to seek help, but not at NASA, Santy said.

3. Patricia Santy, a former NASA psychiatrist and author of the book "Choosing The Right Stuff." "They themselves have forgotten these are ordinary people and in that kind of celebrity culture, there‘s a sense of entitlement." Santy said the astronaut corps is "like a family, but it‘s almost like a dysfunctional family when it comes to understanding that these interpersonal issues have profound impacts." Former astronaut Jerry Linenger said astronauts take pride in their self–discipline, "and you set a goal and it‘s just going, going, going and you let nothing get in your way." That single–minded pursuit reminds Linenger of Nowak‘s drive from Houston to Orlando, Fla., to confront an Air Force captain from Florida who she allegedly believed was involved with the same space shuttle pilot she loved.