Since 1991, March has been designated as Irish American Heritage Month to recognize the contribution that Irish immigrants and their descendants have played in the formation of our Nation.
As it is also Women’s History Month, we thought it appropriate to celebrate and tell the story of Irish-Amercan Colonel Eileen Collins, an astronaut, pilot and much more.
Eileen Collins, the record breaker:
- Collins was one of four children born to immigrant parents from County Cork in Elmira, New York. She expressed an early interest in flying, her parents often taking her to the local airport to watch aircraft take off and land. She worked to pay her tuition at the local community college where upon graduation she was awarded a scholarship to Syracuse University. At Syracuse, she earned degrees in Mathematics and Economics and joined the Air Force ROTC.
- Although the U.S. Navy accepted women as pilots in 1974, the U.S. Air Force did not until 1976. In 1978, when Collins set her sights on attending Undergraduate Pilot Training school at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, she was among the first group of 120 females to apply. She was one of only four women chosen; the rest of her classmates (320 total) were men.
- Collins was selected for the Astronaut program in 1990.
- The first woman to pilot a Shuttle in the first joint American/Russian Mission to the Mir Space Station (1995).
- The first pilot to take the shuttle through a 360 degree pitch maneuver to ensure that the shuttle had not incurred damage during launch.
- The first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft (1999).
- In her 27 year Air Force/NASA career, she attained the rank of Colonel and logged 6.751 flight hours in 30 different types of aircraft and 872 space hours.
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