14 Facts About William Oefelein

William Anthony "Bill" Oefelein is an American freelance adventure writer and photographer and former NASA astronaut who, on his only spaceflight, piloted the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission.

William Oefelein admitted to a two-year affair with Nowak, and he and Nowak became the first astronauts ever dismissed from NASA.

William Oefelein was born on March 29,1965, in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where he flew floatplanes, and graduated from West Anchorage High School in 1983.

William Oefelein earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University in 1988, where he became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

In 1988, William Oefelein received his commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida.

William Oefelein entered flight training in Texas in 1989 and was designated a Naval Aviator in September 1990.

In June 1998, William Oefelein was selected by the NASA Astronaut Corps to be an Astronaut Candidate in NASA Astronaut Group 17.

William 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 Shipman, then his fiancee and current wife.

William Oefelein served as pilot for the STS-116 mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery from December 9 to 22,2006.

William Oefelein was married to his first wife and had not yet been accepted to the NASA Astronaut Corps when he met married and recently selected Astronaut Candidate Lisa Nowak in 1996.

When William Oefelein became an astronaut candidate in 1998, he and Nowak became romantically involved while training together at NASA.

William Oefelein continued his relationship with the still married Nowak, while starting a relationship, in November 2006, with US Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman.

Shipman and William Oefelein exchanged racy emails throughout his December 2006 space mission, and he ended his relationship with Nowak in January 2007.

In September 2011, William Oefelein survived a small plane crash in rural Alaska.