1956-
Astronaut

Background.

U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Marie Collins was the first woman ever selected to pilot, and later command a mission on a space shuttle. Born 19 November 1956, in Elmira, New York, Collins graduated from Syracuse University in 1978 and became one of the first women to go straight from college into Air Force pilot training. She was a T-38 instructor pilot and a C-141 aircraft commander, was chosen to join NASA in 1990, and became an astronaut in 1991. By 1999 she had flown more than five thousand hours in more than thirty different types of aircraft.

Shuttle Commander.

On 5 March 1998, at the White House, Collins was officially named the first woman Space Shuttle commander. She led the crew of STS-93 on a five-day mission aboard space shuttle Columbia on 22—27 July 1999. The crew deployed one of the most precious car-goes ever taken into space: the $1.5 billion...