A Nasa astronaut has been charged with attempted kidnapping after driving 900 miles to confront a woman she believed was a rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, according to police documents.

Navy Captain Lisa Nowak, 43, who flew last July on a shuttle mission to the international space station, drove 12 hours from her home in Texas to Orlando International Airport so she could intercept Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, who had just flown in, it is said.

She allegedly told officers that she wore a nappy, as astronauts do during launch and re-entry, so she would not have to stop on the journey.

Mrs Nowak, a married mother of three, was friendly with Navy Commander William Oefelein, a pilot on space shuttle Discovery’s trip to the space station last December, and believed Ms Shipman was having a relationship with him, it is said.

In the early hours of Monday morning, wearing a trench coat and the wig, she waited for Ms Shipman to arrive and then followed her to her car, saying she wanted to talk.

But Ms Shipman, an engineer assigned to the 45th Launch Support Squadron at Patrick Air Force base near the Kennedy Space Centre, became scared and locked herself in the vehicle. After pretending that she was stranded, Mrs Nowak persuaded Ms Shipman to lower her window a couple of inches and then allegedly squirted pepper spray into her eyes.

Ms Shipman managed to drive away and the police were called.

Detective William Becton interviewed Mrs Nowak at the airport. In the charging affidavit he states that Ms Nowak was involved in a relationship with Mr Oefelein, a father of two. “The relationship was categorised as more than a working relationship, but less than a romantic relationship. Mrs Nowak discovered that Mr Oefelein was also involved with Ms Shipman.”

He adds in the document: “Mrs Novak stated that she was not trying to cause any bodily harm to Ms Shipman and that she only wanted to scare her into talking with her.

“I asked Mrs Nowak about the steel mallet and the BB gun. Mrs Nowak stated that the BB gun was going to be used to entice Ms Shipman to talk with her.”

Mrs Nowak was charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery. She was denied bail.

A Navy commander, Mr Oefelein is a former test pilot who attended Topgun, the US Navy Fighter Weapons School. He has flown more 3,000 hours in more than 50 types of aircraft, including over 200 carrier landings, according to Nasa.

A Nasa spokesman, James Hartsfield, said that, as of Monday, Mrs Nowak’s status with the astronaut corps remained unchanged.

“What will happen beyond that, I will not speculate,” he said.

Officers also found rubber tubing, $600 (£305) and rubbish bags inside a bag that Mrs Nowak was carrying when she was arrested, authorities said.

Inside Mrs Nowak’s vehicle, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities uncovered latex gloves and e-mails between Ms Shipman and Mr Oefelein. They also found a letter “that indicated how much Mrs Nowak loved Mr Oefelein,” Ms Shipman’s home address and hand written directions to the address, the arrest affidavit said.

“If you were just going to talk to someone, I don’t know that you would need a wig, a trench coat, an air cartridge BB gun and pepper spray,” said Sergeant Barbara Jones, a spokeswoman for the Orlando Police Department. “It’s just really a very sad case. ... Now she ends up finding herself on the other side of the law with some very serious charges.”

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