Collins, Eileen Marie (1956-…), is the first woman to command a space shuttle. She commanded the shuttle Columbia on an orbital flight from July 23 to 28, 1999. During the flight, the shuttle launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory, an orbiting telescope. Collins also commanded the shuttle Discovery from July 26 to Aug. 9, 2005, the program’s first flight following the 2003 loss of Columbia.
Collins was born on Nov. 19, 1956, in Elmira, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Syracuse University in 1978. She also earned two master’s degrees, one in operations research from Stanford University in 1986 and one in space systems management from Webster University in 1989.
Collins enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1978. Before becoming an astronaut in 1991, she worked as a test pilot and as a math instructor at the Air Force Academy. She retired from the Air Force in 2005, having reached the rank of colonel, and retired from the astronaut program in 2006.
