Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson (born September 29, 1942, Miami, Florida, U.S.) is an American Democratic politician who represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2019. He had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–91). Nelson was the second sitting member of Congress to travel into space (1986). In 2021 he became the administrator of NASA.

Nelson earned a B.A. in political science from Yale University in 1965 and received a doctorate of law (J.D.) from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968. He was admitted to the Florida bar the same year. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve for six years (1965–71), saw active duty for two years (1968–70), and earned the rank of captain. After starting his law practice in Melbourne, Florida, in 1970 and working as a legislative assistant to Gov. Reubin Askew in 1971, Nelson launched his own political career and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1972. That year he also married Grace Cavert, and the couple later had two children. He served in the state legislature from 1973 to 1979. Elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, he served six terms (1979–91) as a representative for Florida’s 9th and 11th congressional districts.

Nelson, who was chair of the House space subcommittee, began his astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in September 1985. On January 12, 1986, he flew aboard the Columbia space shuttle as a payload specialist on the STS-61C mission. During the six-day flight, the seven-man crew launched a communications satellite and performed several experiments in materials processing and astrophysics, including an infrared imaging experiment and a handheld protein crystal growth experiment. STS-61C returned to Earth on January 18, 1986.

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Nelson was a candidate for governor of Florida in 1990, but he lost in the Democratic Party primaries. In 1994 he was elected to the Florida cabinet as treasurer, insurance commissioner, and fire marshal. He served there until his election to the U.S. Senate in November 2000. He took office the following year.

While in Congress, Nelson established a reputation as a liberal. He supported abortion rights and gun control, and in 2010 he voted for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. policy that barred openly gay men and women from serving in the military. In addition, he came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2013. Fiscally, he favoured tax increases for the wealthy and raising the federal minimum wage. Nelson also took interest in climate change, especially its effects on his home state.

Although he easily won reelection in 2006 and 2010, Nelson’s bid for a fourth term in 2018 proved challenging, as he faced Gov. Rick Scott and a sharply divided electorate. The closely contested election ultimately went to a recount, with Nelson losing by a narrow margin. He left office in January 2019. Two years later U.S. Pres. Joe Biden nominated him administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Nelson was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in April.