Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle when Discovery launched on STS-63, a mission featuring the first rendezvous with Mir.
On February 3, 1995, Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins launched into space as pilot of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-63, becoming the first woman ever to pilot a Space Shuttle. This mission, sometimes called the 'near-Mir' mission, included the first rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with the Russian space station Mir, a critical rehearsal for the planned docking missions of the Shuttle-Mir program.
Collins's selection to fly this historic mission came after years of trailblazing service as a U.S. Air Force pilot and instructor, at a time when women had only recently been permitted to fly military aircraft and had never before been assigned to pilot America's spacecraft. Her achievement shattered a significant barrier in the traditionally male-dominated field of human spaceflight, following in the footsteps of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, but going a critical step further by taking direct control of the vehicle.
The flight demonstrated close-proximity operations with Mir, laying groundwork for the eventual docking missions that would follow. Collins's calm, precise piloting under intense public scrutiny helped cement her reputation as one of NASA's most capable pilots and paved the way for her subsequent role as the first woman to command a shuttle mission just four years later.
This milestone remains a landmark moment in the history of women in aerospace and STEM fields broadly.