Eileen M. Collins

Eileen Marie Collins (born 19 November 1956) is a retired NASA astronaut and United States Air Force (USAF) colonel. A former flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle mission.

A graduate of Corning Community College, where she earned an associate degree in mathematics in 1976, and Syracuse University, where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics in 1978, Collins was commissioned as an officer in the USAF through Syracuse's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. She was one of four women chosen for Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. After earning her pilot wings, she stayed on at Vance for three years as a T-38 Talon instructor pilot before transitioning to the C-141 Starlifter at Travis Air Force Base, California. During the American invasion of Grenada in October 1983, her aircraft flew troops of the 82nd Airborne Division from Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina to Grenada, and took thirty-six medical students back. From 1986 to 1989, she was an assistant professor in mathematics and a T-41 instructor pilot at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. She earned 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. That year, she became the second woman pilot to attend the USAF Test Pilot School, and she graduated with class 89B.

In 1990, Collins was selected to be a pilot astronaut with NASA Astronaut Group 13. She flew the Space Shuttle as pilot in 1995 aboard STS-63, which involved a space rendezvous between and the Russian space station '' Mir''. She was also the pilot for STS-84 in 1997. She became the first woman to command a US spacecraft with STS-93, launched in July 1999, which deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and in 2005 she commanded STS-114, NASA's "return to flight" mission after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, to test safety improvements and resupply the International Space Station (ISS). During this mission she became the first astronaut to fly the orbiter through a complete 360-degree pitch maneuver so astronauts aboard the ISS could take photographs of the orbiter's belly to ensure there was no threat from debris-related damage during re-entry. She retired from the USAF in January 2005 with the rank of colonel, and from NASA in May 2006.

Early life

Eileen Marie Collins was born in Elmira, New York, on 19 November 1956. Her parents were James Edward Collins and his wife Rose Marie O'Hara. Her ancestors came to America in the mid-1800s, settling in Pennsylvania and Elmira, New York. She has three siblings: an older brother, Edward; a younger sister, Margaret; and a younger brother, James. Her father served in the US Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war he managed the family bar, then became a surveyor. Her parents separated when she was young, and her mother took a job as a stenographer at the Elmira Correctional Facility. As a child, she was shy and needed speech therapy for her stutter. She participated in Girl Scouts, and attended the El-Ne-Ho summer camp. She expressed an interest in becoming a pilot, reading books such as ''Fate Is the Hunter'' and '' God Is My Co-Pilot'', and subscribing to ''Air Force Magazine''.

Collins attended St. Patrick's School in Elmira up to the eighth grade and then Notre Dame High School, a Catholic high school, but was unhappy there. The family home was badly damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in June 1972, and with finances tight, she was able to convince her mother to allow her to transfer to Elmira Free Academy, a public high school. After graduating from Elmira Free Academy in 1974, Collins considered enlisting in the US Air Force, but her father was adamantly opposed. Instead, she attended Corning Community College, where she earned an associate degree in mathematics in 1976. She then entered Syracuse University, which she chose because it had an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) program.

In 1975, the United States Air Force (USAF) changed its policy to allow women to train as pilots, although only for non-combat missions. The first ten women chosen for pilot training in September 1976 were all serving Air Force officers with four-year college degrees. They graduated in September 1977. Collins noted their names and followed their progress and subsequent careers with interest, hoping to soon follow in their footsteps.

Six weeks after graduating from Corning, Collins reported to Rickenbacker Air Force Base for her basic training. In 1976, women had different fitness standards from the men, but Collins was granted permission to do the morning run with the men, who had to run in less than 12 minutes. The training included classes on the history of the USAF and the theory of flight, a ride in a Fairchild C-123 Provider and a flight in a Cessna T-37 Tweet with an instructor. She took flying lessons in a Cessna 150 at Elmira Corning Regional Airport, eventually flying solo, but did not have time to complete all the requirements for a private pilot license.

In January 1978, Collins received orders to report to Offutt Air Force Base upon graduation from Syracuse, where she would become a computer systems engineer, a logical assignment for a mathematics major. Before this could occur, the Syracuse AFROTC commander, Colonel Vernon Hagen, informed her that the USAF was now accepting up to ten women from AFROTC programs for pilot training, and offered to put her name forward for this. Collins eagerly accepted this offer, but a physical examination at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base revealed that although she had 20/20 visual acuity in her right eye, she had only 20/25 in the left, leading to her being rejected. Hagen told her to rest her eyes, and ordered a re-test, which she passed. She graduated later that year with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and economics.

Air Force career

Upon graduation from Syracuse, Collins was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the USAF. She received orders to report to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for the Flight Screening Program (FSP) In August 1978. She was one of four women in the class; there were ten men. The purpose of the FSP was to screen out unsuitable pilots before sending them to the more expensive Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) program. Collins was almost eliminated on medical grounds due to her left eye and a suspected heart murmur, but was cleared to fly. Training flights were conducted from nearby Hondo Municipal Airport in Cessna T-41 Mescalero aircraft.

For her UPT, Collins requested that she be assigned to Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, where the first ten women had trained, but the USAF personnel office decided to send her to Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. There were three other women in her class, 79–08. She decorated her helmet with the logo E = mc², an allusion to both her initials and Albert Einstein's mass–energy equivalence equation. Flight training was conducted in the T-37 Tweet. On 24 November 1978, she became the first member of her class to fly solo.

The second phase of instruction began in March 1979 in the Northrop T-38 Talon, a jet trainer. She received her pilot wings at the conclusion of this training, and was selected to become a flight instructor. There remained some training before she could join an operational unit. First, there was a week of Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training. The top-ranking members of the class went on to fly single-pilot aircraft, while the others became co-pilots. But most single-pilot aircraft were combat aircraft, which woman could not yet fly, so she stayed on at Vance as a T-38 Talon instructor pilot. This involved four weeks of Pilot Instructor Training (PIT), which was conducted at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. She was the first woman to become a T-38 instructor pilot, and only woman flight instructor at Vance between September 1979 and December 1982.

Now a captain, Collins set her sights on becoming an astronaut. To achieve this goal, she aimed to graduate from the USAF Test Pilot School. Entry required at least one year as an aircraft commander in an operational aircraft and over one thousand hours flying time. She had already accumulated over a thousand hours flying as an instructor at Vance, but a trainer is not considered an operational aircraft. She requested an assignment flying the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II or Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. But women were still not permitted to fly combat aircraft, so she was assigned to Travis Air Force Base in California, to fly the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, a transport aircraft that had been her 21st choice. She flew long-range missions such as the "Double Diego" run to Diego Garcia via Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii, Anderson Air Force Base on Guam, Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, and then to back to Clark, to Diego Garcia again, and homeward via Singapore, Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa, Yokota Air Force Base in Japan and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. She also flew the "coral run" to Kwajalein Atoll, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Midway Atoll, and to European destinations in Germany, Spain, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom in support of the annual Reforger exercises.

During the American invasion of Grenada in October 1983, her aircraft flew troops of the 82nd Airborne Division from Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina to Grenada, and took thirty-six medical students back. Although women were not supposed to fly in combat, the USAF gave her combat pay for the mission, and awarded her the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. After nine months as a co-pilot, she was upgraded to first pilot. After attending aircraft commander school at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and aerial refueling training, she was upgraded to aircraft commander in June 1984.

From August 1986 to June 1989, Collins was assigned to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, where she was an assistant professor in mathematics, teaching courses on calculus and linear algebra, and a T-41 instructor pilot. Through the Air Force Institute of Technology, she earned a Master of Science in operations research from Stanford University in 1986, and a Master of Arts in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. She had begun dating a fellow C-141 pilot, James P. (Pat) Youngs, in August 1983. Youngs was also posted to the Air Force Academy, as a golf instructor. They were married on 1 August 1987. Youngs eventually left the USAF to fly as a commercial pilot for Delta Air Lines, thereby giving himself the flexibility to follow Collins as her career progressed.

Earning an advanced degree improved her chances of being selected for the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, but USAF rules required officers to pay back their tuition by serving with the duty assignment that provided the funding. This meant that she was supposed to remain at the Air Force Academy for three years. She hoped that this rule would be waived, but her first two applications for the USAF Test Pilot School were rejected on these grounds. When she applied for a third time in 1989, she had been in the USAF for longer than the ten-year maximum allowed before entering the USAF Test Pilot School, but this time a waiver was granted. In the meantime, Captain Jacquelyn Susan "Jackie" Parker became the first woman to graduate from the USAF Test Pilot School in 1988.

Collins became the second woman pilot to attend when she joined Class 89B in June 1989. She was also the most senior member of the class, as she was the only one with the rank of major, which made her the class leader. At Edwards she flew a variety of aircraft, including the Lockheed TR-1, P-3 Orion

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