William Anthony "Bill" Oefelein is an American test pilot instructor and former NASA astronaut who, on his only spaceflight, piloted the STS-116Space Shuttle mission. Oefelein gained media attention on February 5, 2007 when fellow astronautLisa Nowak was arrested in Florida and charged with attempting to kidnap his girlfriend, U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. Nowak later pleaded guilty to felony burglary and misdemeanor battery. Oefelein admitted to a two-year affair with Nowak, and he and Nowak became the first astronauts ever dismissed from NASA. Following the dismissals, NASA created its first astronaut Code of Conduct.
In 1988, Oefelein received his commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. He entered flight training in Texas in 1989 and was designated a Naval Aviator in September 1990. His early assignments included overseas deployments to the Persian Gulf as a strike fighter pilot in the F/A-18 Hornet. After attending the Navy Fighter Weapons School, Oefelein graduated in 1995 from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where he later served as an instructor. In 1998, he was working as a strike operations officer for Carrier Air Wing Eight at NAS Oceana, Virginia. In 1998, Oefelein was selected to join NASA Astronaut Corps. After two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for an assignment as a Space Shuttle pilot. He was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch and Capsule Communicator Branch. Oefelein completed his only mission as pilot on STS-116, which was launched on December 9, 2006, and logged over 308 hours in space. NASA terminated Oefelein's service with the space agency on May 23, 2007, stating he would be reassigned to the U.S. Navy. Oefelein and fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak were the first astronauts ever dismissed by NASA, which created a written Code of Conduct for the NASA Astronaut Corps following their termination. Oefelein retired from the Navy in the fall of 2008, returning to Alaska to start a business called Adventure Write as a freelance writer and photographer with his fiancée and future wife, Colleen Shipman.
Spaceflight experience
Oefelein served as pilot for the STS-116 mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery from December 9 to 22, 2006. The seven-member crew on this 12-day mission continued construction of the International Space Station by adding the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station's power system, preparing it to support the addition of European and Japanese science modules by future Shuttle crews. The fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to coax and retract a stubborn solar panel to fold up accordion-style into its box. Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116.
Personal life
Oefelein met fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak in 1996. They became romantically involved about two years later while training together at NASA. On February 5, 2007, Nowak was arrested at the Orlando International Airport following an alleged assault on U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, Oefelein's girlfriend at the time. On November 10, 2009, Nowak pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to time served plus one year's probation. On July 10, 2009, Oefelein and Shipman announced their engagement. They were married in summer 2010 and now live in Anchorage. Together they have a son. Colleen Shipman is now an author under the pen name C.M. McCoy. She released her first novel, Eerie, in December, 2015. In September 2011, Oefelein survived a small plane crash in rural Alaska.
