Bill Oefelein

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 TOPGUN, the Navy Fighter Weapons School, Oefelein graduated in 1995 from the Navy's test-pilot school at Patuxent River, Maryland, where he later taught. In 1998, he was working as a strike operations officer for a carrier air wing in Virginia.

In 1998, Oefelein was selected to join NASA's 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 (CAPCOM) 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.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

NASA terminated Oefelein's service with the space agency on May 23, 2007, stating he would be reassigned to the U.S. Navy.[1][2][3][4][12][13] Oefelein and fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak were the first astronauts ever dismissed by NASA, which created an astronaut code of conduct following their termination.[14] Oefelein retired from the Navy in the fall of 2008, moving back to Alaska to start a business called Adventure Write as a freelance writer and photographer with his fiance Colleen Shipman.[15][5][16][17][18][19]
[edit] Personal life

Oefelein was married for 15 years to Michaella Davis, whom he had known since high school. They divorced in 2005 and their two children live with Davis.

Oefelein met fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak in 1996. They became friends about two years later while training together at NASA.[20] 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.

On July 10, 2009 Oefelein and Shipman announced their engagement. They are to be married in 2010.