Eileen Collins - Space Shuttle Commander
Eileen Collins was the first woman to command a space shuttle. Born in 1956, Eileen Collins was selected by NASA for their astronaut training program in 1990 and first flew in 1995. In 1999, on STS-93 on the Columbia space shuttle, Eileen Collins became the first woman space shuttle commander.
Official NASA biographical sketch of Eileen Collins who joined NASA in 1990 and was the first woman to command a space shuttle on STS-93, 1999.
NASA astronaut since 1991 and first woman pilot of a Space Shuttle: Eileen Collins on a 1995 mission docked with Russian space station Mir; in 1997 her second mission also docked with Mir. She was the first woman space shuttle commander.
CNN 7/22/99: Eileen Collins makes history by commanding the latest space shuttle.
Eileen Collins answers questions about her life, her heroes, her role as a pioneer in aviation and issues with her then-upcoming shuttle flight.
Article from 1999 begins with commentary on how Collins has balanced her roles as mother and astronaut, bu thte balance of the article is about her education, preparation, and career.
Details on the 1995 space shuttle mission which made history when Eileen Collins was made mission commander, thereby becoming the first woman space shuttle commander ever.
An article from the July 22, 1999, New York Times, about the delay in launching the shuttle flight that would make Eileen Collins the first woman to command an American space mission.
In this web scavenger hunt for grades 6-12, students look at the July 1999 space shuttle mission where a woman commanded an American space flight for the first time. The underlying lesson is learning how to cite Web sites correctly in MLA format.
