Police said NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, 43, donned a trench coat and a wig to accost her love rival, Colleen Shipman, at Orlando International Airport in the pre-dawn hours of Monday.

Nowak, a US Navy captain and a married mother of three, flew to the International Space Station in July. Nowak and Shipman were rivals for the affections of astronaut William Oefelein, 41, who flew a mission to the orbiting space station in December.

According to a police affidavit, Nowak said in a statement that she planned to "scare" Shipman into talking with her about her relationship with Oefelein but that she had no intention of harming her.

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper said Nowak drove for more than 12 hours from Texas to confront Shipman.

Nowak told police she wore an adult diaper so she could make the 1,600 kilometer (1,000 mile) long drive from Texas without stopping.

Police found in Nowak's bag and car a can of pepper spray, a steel mallet, a pellet pistol, latex gloves, a folding knife, rubber tubing, a wig and 600 dollars in cash.

They also found copies of e-mail messages from Shipman to Oefelein, and a letter in which Nowak declared her love for Oefelein.

Shipman told police that a woman in a trench coat followed her to her vehicle at the airport parking lot in Orlando. Shipman got into her car, and the mystery woman appeared and tried to open the door, claiming that she needed to use a cell phone.

Shipman refused, but then "rolled her window down about 2 inches, so Mrs. Nowak could hear her ... Mrs. Nowak sprayed some type of chemical spray into the vehicle, at Ms. Shipman's face," the police report read.

Shipman sped off and called for help. Police arrived and arrested Nowak, who Shipman identified.

Nowak was charged with attempted kidnapping, battery, attempted burglary of a car and destruction of evidence. She was remanded to custody with a police recommendation that she not be granted bail because of "fear for the safety of the victim."

A US Navy officer since 1987, Nowak trained for two years as an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, from 1996.

She worked in Mission Control as prime communicator with orbiting crews and flew as mission specialist on the shuttle Discovery's July 4-17, 2006 mission to the International Space Station.

Nowak told police that she was "involved in a relationship" with Oefelein, which she categorized as "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to the affidavit.

Oefelein became a naval aviator in 1990, and was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for two years of astronaut training in 1998. He served as pilot on the Discovery's December 9-22, 2006 mission to the ISS.

Nowak's "status as an astronaut with NASA is currently unchanged. I cannot speculate on what might happen beyond that," said James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Nowak and Oefelein work.

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