William Anthony "Bill" Oefelein (; born March 29, 1965) is an American freelance adventure writer and photographer and former NASA astronaut who, on his only spaceflight, piloted the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission. Oefelein gained media attention on February 5, 2007 when fellow astronaut Lisa 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 Shipman, and he and Nowak became the first astronauts ever dismissed from NASA. Following the dismissals, NASA created its first astronaut Code of Conduct. Early life and education 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. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University in 1988, where he became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Ten years later he received a Master of Science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Career 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 United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program ( TOPGUN), 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 June 1998, Oefelein was selected by the NASA Astronaut Corps to be an Astronaut Candidate in NASA Astronaut Group 17. After two years of training and evaluation, he was promoted to Astronaut, receiving his Astronaut Pin, with qualification for the NASA position of Space Shuttle pilot. He was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch and Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) Branch. Oefelein's only mission was piloting Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-116, which launched on December 9, 2006, logging over 308 hours in space before landing on December 22. Five months after completing his only space mission, and three