This Week in Space 55

Col. Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot the space shuttle and command a NASA mission, but the journey was not easy. She was the second woman to go through the Air Force's test pilot school and was selected as an astronaut in 1990. In 1995 she piloted the shuttle Discovery in a mission to rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir, and in 1999 she commanded the STS-93 mission--the first woman to do so--and STS 114 in 2005, the shuttle's return to flight after the Columbia accident; in all, she flew four shuttle missions. Eileen retired from NASA in 2006 and co-authored "Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars" with Jonathan Ward. She continues to inspire young women worldwide. 

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Links

• Eileen Collins, "Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars" - Amazon.com
• Eileen Collins on LinkedIn
• Eileen Collins website
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