Bill Nelson Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Florida, first elected to that seat in 2000. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1978 and in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991. In January 1986, he became the second sitting member of Congress to fly in space when he served as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle "Columbia". Before entering politics he served in the U.S. Army Reserve in the
Space Shuttle crew members to the ISS, to stay docked for 180 days, and then return them back to Earth. These spacecraft were to become operational in the 2010s. Space Shuttles have been features of fiction and nonfiction, from children's movies to documentaries. Early examples include the 1979 "James Bond" film, "Moonraker", the 1982 Activision videogame "Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space" (1982) and G. Harry Stine's 1981 novel "Shuttle Down". In the 1986 film "SpaceCamp", "Atlantis" accidentally launches into space with a group of U.S. Space Camp participants as its crew. A space shuttle named "Intrepid" is featured in the 1989