After being told by the judge to face Shipman, Nowak apologized for the pain she brought to Shipman's life.

"I hope very much that we can all move forward from this with privacy and peace," Nowak said.

Lubet ordered her to have no contact with Shipman or Oefelein and to write Shipman a letter of apology. The sentence included two days in jail, but the judge waived it for time already served. He said the plea could adversely affect her career and retirement benefits with the Navy.

"You brought this on yourself. I don't have any sympathy for you in that respect," Lubet told Nowak.

The plea came after an appeals court ruled last year that diapers, latex gloves and other items found in Nowak's car could be used as evidence, but her six-hour police interview after her arrest could not. The court said investigators took advantage of the former astronaut, who had been awake for more than 24 hours, coercing her into giving information. The trial had been scheduled for next month.

Prosecutor Pam Davis asked for jail time and at least five years of probation, dismissing claims from Nowak's defense attorney that Nowak had been "overcharged" by police detectives because of her high profile.

"This has nothing to do with Ms. Nowak being an astronaut. This is about what she did," Davis said.

Nowak, 46, is a married mother of three. She flew on the space shuttle in 2006 but was dismissed from the astronaut corps after her arrest and has since been on active duty at a Navy base in Corpus Christi, Texas. Oefelein, 44, also was forced out of NASA.