Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Marie Collins has indeed made a name for herself in the history of NASA. The first woman pilot of a Space Shuttle, Collins is also the first woman to be assigned as a Space Shuttle Commander. Born November 19, 1956 in Elmira, New York to James and Rose Marie Collins, Eileen received an associate in science degree in mathematics/science from Corning Community College in 1976. She continued her education by receiving a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics from Syracuse University two years later, a master of science degree in operations research from Stanford University in 1986 and a master of arts degree in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. Eileen graduated in 1979 from Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training in Oklahoma, where she was a T-38 instructor pilot until 1982. For the next two years, she was a C-141 aircraft commander and instructor pilot at Travis Air Force Base in California. She spent the following year as a student with the Air Force Institute of Technology before being assigned in 1986 to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. At the Academy until 1989, Eileen was an assistant professor in mathematics and a T-41 instructor pilot. She was selected for the astronaut program while attending the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, from which she graduated in 1990. In total, Eileen has logged over 5,000 hours in thirty different types of aircraft.
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Eileen became an astronaut in July of the next year. Initially assigned to Orbiter engineering support, she has also served on the astronaut support team responsible for Orbiter prelaunch checkout, final launch configuration, crew ingress/egress, landing and recovery. She has worked in Mission Control as a spacecraft communicator for numerous shuttle missions and served as the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems Branch Chief.
Eileen is a veteran of two space flights, herself. STS-63, which took place February 2-11, 1995, was the first flight of the new joint Russian-American Space Program. Mission highlights included a rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir, operation of Spacehab, the deployment and retrieval of an astronomy satellite and a space walk. Eileenšs first mission was accomplished in 129 orbits, traveling over 2.9 million miles in 198 hours and 29 minutes. It was on this mission that Eileen became the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle.
Her second mission, STS-84 took place May 15-24, 1997. This was NASAšs sixth Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the flight, the crew conducted a number of experiments and transferred nearly four tons of supplies and equipment between Atlantis and the Mir station. At the end of this mission, Eileen had logged a total of over 419 hours in space.
On Eileenšs third mission, scheduled to launch in December of 1998, she will be the first woman assigned as a Space Shuttle Commander. She will command the crew of STS-93 on a 5-day mission to deploy the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging System, which will conduct comprehensive studies of the universe and allow scientists to study exotic phenomena like exploding stars, quasars and black holes. In addition to her work at NASA, Eileen is involved in the Air Force Association, Order of Daedalians, Women Military Aviators, the U.S. Space Foundation, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Ninety-Nines. She has been awarded numerous medals, including the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in Grenada (Operation Urgent Flury, October 1983) and the NASA Space Flight Medal. Married to Pat Youngs, Eileen has one child and enjoys running, golf, hiking, camping, reading, photography and astronomy.