Bill Nelson was a Captain in the United States Army, serving in the reserves from 1965 to 1971, and was on active duty from 1968 to 1970.
His public service career began in 1972, with his election to the Florida Legislature. During his three terms, he helped enact the nation’s first state law to protect consumers from computer fraud and advocated for responsible growth management laws.
Elected to the U.S. Congress in 1978, he served six terms representing Orlando and the Space Coast and became an early advocate for a balanced federal budget.
In January 1986, Nelson spent six days orbiting Earth as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Columbia. That experience gave him a new perspective on the Earth’s fragile environment and a greater appreciation of the importance of our nation’s space exploration program.
STS-61C Columbia (January 12-18, 1986) launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to a night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the six-day flight the seven-man crew aboard Columbiadeployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. At mission conclusion Bill Nelson had traveled over 2.1 million miles in 96 earth orbits and logged over 146 hours in space.
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