William A. Oefelein
William Anthony Oefelein is a former United States Navy officer, test pilot, NASA astronaut, and shuttle pilot. His only spaceflight was STS-116, an International assembly mission.
- Born
- March 29, 1965
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Fort Belvoir, Virginia,United States
Flights
1
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
12 days, 20 hours, 45 minutes
Bio
Oefelein studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and later earned a master's degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Before NASA he flew F/A-18 aircraft and trained as a naval test pilot.
NASA selected Oefelein in 1998. On STS-116 he piloted Discovery during a complex ISS assembly and logistics mission that delivered the P5 truss segment and supported station power-system reconfiguration.
After leaving NASA in 2007, Oefelein moved into private aviation and writing, carrying forward the naval-aviation and test-pilot experience that had led to his STS-116 assignment.