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
beyond discover farther faster fly humans invent people solar someday travel ways
My dream, now, is that people will discover and invent new ways to fly higher, faster and farther and that someday humans will travel beyond our solar system.
aware commander cool crew difference female honestly job male rest woman
I can honestly say that in my job day to day, I'm not really aware that there's any difference between male and female crew members. It may be cool to the rest of the world that a woman is the commander of this flight. I think that's great.
believe gap previous seen similar
I believe the gap fillers are similar to what we had seen in previous flights.
cleaning looks might
Looks like I might have some cleaning up to do when I get home.
everybody knew praying reason
She was praying for us -- everybody was praying for us. That's another reason I knew we were safe.
anxious crew looked looks outside
The crew was anxious to see what the outside (of the craft) looked like and it looks fantastic.
cake finally icing wild
It's just been a wild ride. We've finally been able to put the icing on the cake with this mission.
dream fly mission shuttle true
This mission is a dream come true for all of us, not just to fly on the shuttle but to fly on this very important mission.
four since trained wonderful
For many of us it's been four years since we trained for (this mission) and its been a wonderful experience.
columbia crew great inspiring last mission reflect ship shuttle
We reflect on the last shuttle mission , the great ship Columbia and her inspiring crew
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.
fly leaving reality sad ways
In some ways I feel sad about leaving NASA, but the reality is, I won't fly again.
carrying columbia crew
I think about the Columbia crew every day. I feel like we are carrying on their mission.