May 1 2006
From The Space Library
Eileen M. Collins, who had joined the astronaut corps in 1990, announced her retirement from NASA. In February 1995, Collins had served as NASA’s first female Shuttle pilot on Space Shuttle Discovery STS-63, the first Shuttle mission to rendezvous with the Russian Mir space station. In May 1997, she had served as pilot on Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-84 flight to Mir, and in July 1999, she had become NASA’s first female Shuttle commander on Space Shuttle Columbia STS-93, which had launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory. In July–August 2005, she had served as commander of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-114, the first Shuttle flight since the 2003 loss of Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin described Collins as a “brave, superb pilot,” and NASA Flight Crew Operations Director Kenneth D. Bowersox called her a “gifted leader.”
NASA, “NASA Astronaut Eileen Collins Completes Career of Space Firsts,” news release 06-208, 1 May 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06208_Collins_retires.html (accessed 1 October 2009); Tariq Malik, “NASA’s First Female Shuttle Commander Retires from Spaceflight,” Space.com, 1 May 2006, http://www.space.com/news/060501_collins_retirement.html (accessed 18 June 2010).
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