Bondage pics found in astronaut's car

The former NASA astronaut accused of driving across the US wearing nappies in an attempt to kidnap a love rival had a computer disk containing bondage images in her car when she was picked up by police, according to court documents.

Navy Captain Lisa Nowak, 43, is facing trial for an attempted kidnapping and other charges after allegedly driving more than 1,500km from Texas to Florida to confront US Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman at an airport.

Prosecutors claim she tried to abduct Capt Shipman because both women had engaged in affairs with fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein.

According to the Florida Today newspaper, evidence now being released from the prosecution includes a disk found in Ms Nowak's car that contains images of an unidentified woman in bondage gear.

"Fifteen of them [the images] were depictions of a woman in various states of dress and undress," the police reports said. "Most of the images depicted scenes of bondage. Some of these images were photographs and some were drawings."

The Florida police have said these images aren't related to the charges being made. It was unclear whether Nowak was actually in any of them. Cash - including British currency - and nearly 70 orange pills were also found in their searches of Ms Nowak's car. The pills are being tested to determine what they are.

The freshly released evidence also includes photos of the nappies Ms Nowak allegedly wore to avoid toilet stops on her long-distance dash, as well as wigs and other disguises, weapons and maps. Police said at the time of her arrest that Ms Nowak had used pepper spray on Capt Shipman through a partially open window of her car outside Orlando International Airport.

Ms Nowak has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. A judge has sealed the results of any psychological evaluations of her, as well as any suggestion from her lawyers that an insanity might be used.

Ms Nowak faces trial in September. She was sacked by NASA a month after her arrest.