Eileen Collins launched as pilot of Atlantis on STS-84, supporting the Shuttle-Mir program with supply transfer and crew exchange.
On May 15, 1997, Eileen Collins launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis as pilot of mission STS-84, her second spaceflight. This mission was the sixth docking of the Shuttle with the Russian space station Mir, part of the ongoing Shuttle-Mir program that served as a bridge between the Shuttle era and the construction of the International Space Station.
During the mission, the crew transferred critical supplies, scientific equipment, and a new long-duration crew member to Mir, while also returning U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger, who had spent months aboard the Russian station. Collins's piloting duties during the rendezvous and docking with Mir required exceptional precision, building on the experience she gained during STS-63 two years earlier.
By this time, Collins had firmly established herself as one of NASA's most trusted pilots, and her participation in STS-84 further cemented the growing role of women in high-stakes human spaceflight operations. Her performance on this mission contributed to NASA's decision to select her, two years later, as the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission.
The Shuttle-Mir program, of which this mission was a part, provided invaluable experience in long-duration spaceflight, international cooperation, and complex orbital rendezvous techniques that would directly inform the assembly and operation of the International Space Station.