Eileen Marie Collins, born November 19, 1956 in Elmira, New York, is a veteran of four Space Shuttle flights. She is the first female pilot for a space shuttle and first female commander of a space shuttle mission. Her parents immigrated from Ireland.
Her first flight was on Discovery (STS-63) in February 1995 as pilot, the first female to pilot the space shuttle. She also piloted Atlantis (STS-84) in May 1997.
She served as commander aboard Columbia (STS-93) July 1999 for her third trip. Her fourth and final trip was on Discovery (STS-114) July - August 2005. During this last flight, Collins performed a backflip maneuver of Discovery so the crew of the International Space Station could check the hull for missing tiles.
How cool is that!
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