The price of obsession

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2007

Just how much pressure does it take for a person to snap -- to abandon reason, family, the entire structure of their life in a desperate emotional quest for the unattainable?

Whatever it is, the bizarre tale of Lisa Nowak, stellar astronaut turned stalker and perhaps would-be killer, seems to suggest that virtually no one is immune. Nowak, 43, was high school valedictorian, with the right stuff to join NASA. She flew on a space shuttle mission just seven months ago and posed with President Bush -- all while mothering three children.

Yet Nowak veered so far off course Monday that Hollywood would be hard-pressed to add to the drama. She reportedly became so intensely jealous of a younger competitor for the affections of NASA shuttle pilot William Oefelein, 41,...