Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut, William Oefelein!

William Oefelein, born March 29, 1965 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, went into space once aboard Discovery (STS-116) as pilot to the International Space Station in December 2006. 

The following fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak drove from Houston to Orlando and attacked Oefelein's girlfriend at the time Colleen Shipman.  Both Nowak and Oefelein were dismissed from the astronaut program. 

Oefelein and Shipman married in 2010 and now reside in Alaska.

Discovery (STS-116) launched 2006

Back row (L-R): Robert Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Sunita Williams, Christer Fuglesang

Front (L-R): William Oefelein, Joan Higginbotham, Mark Polansky

Mission patch

Discovery (STS-116), launched December 9, 2006 to the International Space Station, had 5 rookie astronauts, the only flight for Joan Higginbotham and the first flight for Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang.  The crew consisted of Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot William Oefelein, Mission Specialist 1 Nicholas Patrick, Mission Specialist 2 Robert Curbeam, Mission Specialist 3 Fuglesang, Mission Specialist 4 Higginbotham and Mission Specialist 5 Sunita Williams.

Discovery's crew performed 4 EVAs over the 14-day mission.  They returned to Earth December 22.  Their wake-up call that morning was Perry Como's Home for the Holidays.