Sen. Bill Nelson is a true son of Florida, his family coming to the Panhandle in 1829, and his grandparents homesteading in the early 20th Century on land that today is the Kennedy Space Center.From a spot near there Nelson would launch into space in 1986 and spend six days orbiting the Earth aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Nearly three decades later he still vividly recalls looking back at our planet from the window of the shuttle and not seeing any political, religious or racial divides. more... See more text