Congressman Picked for Shuttle Ride : He Won’t Have Far to Go to Launch Site

In 1917, the Charles Nelson family homesteaded on what is now the Kennedy Space Center. Next year, Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) will fly into space from a launch pad three miles from where his grandparents once settled.

“What would my grandparents say if they were here to witness this?” Nelson asked just days after he was informed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that he will be given a ride on a space shuttle.

“I am beside myself. It’s hard for me to talk about it without grinning from ear to ear,” said Nelson, a 44-year-old, four-term congressman who represents the Cape Canaveral area.

“My first reaction was that it’s a dream come true.”

That dream began some time ago for Nelson, who graduated from Melbourne (Fla.) High School in 1960. It was a time when the nation decided, in the Florida congressman’s words, that “we’re going to catch the Russians” in space.

“I grew up in the shadow of Cape Canaveral,” he said.

About two years ago, when NASA announced that non-astronauts could fly on the shuttle, Nelson, a graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia law school, sent a letter expressing his interest.

But it was not until February, when he was made chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s space science and applications subcommittee, that Nelson believed a shot at a shuttle flight was a “distinct possibility.”

Physical Workouts

He had been preparing himself physically by running four miles a day and doing “all kinds of exercises.” Heeding the advice of others, he also began looking into the things he might like to do once aboard the shuttle.

The call from NASA came Sept. 6.

Nelson would follow Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah) as the second member of Congress to ride the spacecraft. Neither the date of the flight nor the specific shuttle has been selected. It also is unclear what Nelson’s assignment will be.

“When my little girl found out, she’s 8 years old, she said, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ ” said Nelson, who also has a 9-year-old son.

There has been criticism that NASA is offering shuttle rides to congressmen and senators just to keep the shuttle program well funded. Nelson claims he’s different. “Anybody who knows me, knows I’m going to make up my own mind,” he said.

He also plays down criticism that he’s taking the place of a more useful passenger, such as scientist.

“That’s the beauty of the space shuttle. You have the opportunity to do all of these things . . . you can take such a varied crew, and that will be all the more so as the frequency of flights increases,” he said.

He says riding the shuttle “allows the opportunity for me to be a better-informed (subcommittee) chairman as we lead the nation’s space efforts in Congress.”

His real motivation, though, is clear in a Helen Keller quote framed on his office wall. “Life,” he reads, “is either a daring adventure or nothing.”