Eileen Collins
Although many others paved the way for her, Eileen Collins, made it to the top of her field as the first female pilot and first female commander of a space shuttle on her own merit. Born Eileen Marie Collins on November 16, 1956 in Elmira, New York. Her parents were immigrants from Cork County, Ireland, James and Rose Collins. Even as a child, Eileen Collins expressed an interest in space flight and in being a pilot. It was at a summer camp one year in Elmira, as she gazed upward at nearby sailplanes taking off and overriding the blue, when she determined that her dream to fly would one day become her reality. Elmira is dubbed as the “soaring capital of America;” it is known for its rich history in flight and for its collection of period planes, dating from the late 1890s to the late 20th century. With her modest background, Eileen Collins knew that her family would not have the money to pay for flying microdermabrasion machine lessons. So, in her early teens, she began working and saving her earnings. These would, after three years, help establish her flying future. She saved up $1000 and headed to her local airport; at age 19, she asked them to teach her how to fly. Although she was by nature, shy. Eileen Collins dismissed the common notion that flight or aviation was a career choice just for men. Luckily, When she began military gas tankless water heater pilot training with the Air Force, that was the same time that NASA opened the Shuttle program to women. What inspired Eileen Collins’ dreams to grow bigger were the elite first class of women pilots who joined the ranks of NASA’s Mission Specialist Astronauts. Even then, she saw that her natural love for history, astronomy, and geology along with her devotion frozen yogurt business to flight made America’s space program the perfect fit for a would-be astronaut such as herself. More than the desire to fly through the skies, though, challenge is what charged her drive the most. She graduated in the Elmira Free Academy in 1974. After that, she attended the Corning Community College where she earned an Associate degree in Mathematics/Science in 1976. In 1978, she graduated from Syracuse University. In 1986, she followed that up with a dog wheelchair Master of Science degree in Operations Research from Stanford University; lastly, in 1989, a Master of Arts degree in Space Systems Management from Webster University. Following Collins’ graduation from Syracuse, she became one of the four women chosen for the undergraduate pilot training at Vance Air Force Base, in Oklahoma. After earning her wings, she stayed on at Vance as a T-38 Talon instructor pilot for three years before transitioning to the C-141 Starlifter at Travis Air Force Base in California. In 1989, Eileen Collins became the second female pilot to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School; she graduated with class 89B. She married fellow pilot Pat Young in 1987 and they have two children. After all the hard work and training she has put in, in 1990,NASa selected Eileen Collins to join America’s Astronaut Corps; making her an official astronaut the following year. Redefining the term “frequent flyer,” Collins has logged more than 6,280 hours in 30 different types of aircraft; more than 537 of which, were in outer space. She’s a veteran of three spaceflights and also became the first woman pilot of a space shuttle on the first flight of a joint Russian-American Shuttle-Mir program. Upon her retirement in 2006, Eileen Collins received various honors for a career that has been marked with many firsts. Her astronomical career serves as a wonderful beacon to women everywhere.