Eileen collins
Eileen collins
The first female pilot of a Space Shuttle as well as the first female commander of a U.S. Spacecraft.
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth19 November 1956
CityElmira, NY
earth enjoy orbit
We're going to enjoy another day on orbit and we'll see you on Earth tomorrow.
anxious brought crew discovery great looks outside walk
We brought Discovery back in great shape. The crew was very anxious to walk around and see what the outside looks like and it looks fantastic.
columbia crew great inspiring last mission reflect ship shuttle
We reflect on the last shuttle mission , the great ship Columbia and her inspiring crew
fantastic glad
We have had a fantastic mission. We are so glad to come back and be able to say it's a success.
astronaut program wanted
I wanted to apply to the astronaut program after the Challenger accident
pressure nerves emotion
I have no nerves, no emotion, no pressure.
opportunity thinking firsts
I'm honored to be the first woman to have the opportunity to command the shuttle. I don't really think about that on a day-to-day basis because I really don't need to.
thinking being-a-woman prove
I don’t think of myself as being a woman and having anything to prove,
columbia focused job thoughts
I have had a lot of thoughts about Columbia and I will have thoughts after the landing, We're all going to be very focused ... on the job at hand.
educated general
He was pretty educated about what we do in a general sense.
country people flying
Some people said, “we don't want to risk astronauts lives anymore, we need to stop doing this”. The astronauts don't feel that wayWe fly for our country, we fly for humanity, we fly for exploration, we fly for a variety of reasons, and we don't stop flying because we have accidents.
believe space people
We want to explore. We're curious people. Look back over history, people have put their lives at stake to go out and explore ... We believe in what we're doing. Now it's time to go.
military war airplane
Because of [Amelia Earhart], we had more women available to fly in the 1940's to help us get through World War II. And because of these women, women of my generation are able to look back and say, 'Hey, they did it. They even flew military airplanes, we can do it, too.'
moon design age
The vast majority of the shuttle program was a success. We learned so much about how a reusable spacecraft interacts with its environment, how it ages-and what to design next time.