EILEEN COLLINS: First Female Shuttle Commander!
Eileen Collins, on the flight deck and in her official NASA portrait.
(http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/frontiers/collins.html), (www.nasa.gov)
Eileen Collins was born on November 19, 1956, in Elmira, New York. After graduating from high school she wanted to attend college, but knew that she did not have enough money. She attended a community college for two years, studied hard, got good grades, and earned a two-year scholarship to Syracuse University. She earned a bachelor of science degree from Syracuse. She also saved her money for pilot training and worked her way to a private pilot's license.
With good grades and a letter of recommendation from her ROTC instructor, Eileen earned a place in the Air Force's pilot training school - one of the first women to go straight from college to the school. After college Eileen met her husband, Pat, while they were flying C-141 aircraft with the Air Force. They were married in the chapel at the United States Air Force Academy.
Eileen was attending the US Air Force test pilot school in Patuxent River, Maryland, when she was selected as an astronaut candidate. She was officially named an astronaut in 1991, and became the first woman to be named a shuttle pilot. In 1999, she was named the first female shuttle commander, slated to fly the shuttle Columbia in 2004. However, after Columbia disintegrated during reentry in 2003, Eileen and her crew were moved to a later mission, which will launch in 2005.
