Women's History Month Shout Out

“Eileen Collins is a living, breathing example of the best that our nation has to offer. She is, of course, a brave, superb pilot and a magnificent crew commander.” – Michael Griffin, Former NASA Administrator

(1956- ) Eileen Collins is a retired astronaut who was selected for the corps in 1990.  She is also a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel.  She was the first female Space Shuttle pilot, flying Discovery for STS-63 in 1995. Then in 1999, she was the first female Space Shuttle commander, taking charge of Columbia.  So fittingly, she was also commander for the return to flight after the Columbia tragedy.  During this mission, she was the first pilot to ever have to perform a complete 360 degree pitch maneuver of the Space Shuttle.  She retired in 2006 to pursue private interests.

Source: NASA

Women's History Month Shout Out

“Each goal attained was like a new badge. Guiding taught me to see goals and achieve them.” -Dr. Roberta Bondar

 

(1945- ) Dr. Roberta Bondar is a neurologist, distinguished professor, and former astronaut.  She became the first female Canadian astronaut to fly into space in 1992 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery.  She was selected in the first class of astronauts in Canada in 1983.

Sources: Dr. Roberta Bondar’s Official Site and JSC Astronaut Biographies

 

Women's History Month

Hello Women@NASA Blog Readers!

Tomorrow begins a month of celebrating those who came before us and paved the way so that we would have the rights to be who we are.  To celebrate who we were.  And who we will become. 

As such, for each day in March, we will post a Women in History Shout Out.  So if you have a woman you want honored, leave a comment here, on our Facebook wall, or Tweet @WomenNASA.  All you need to do is suggest the honoree’s name and one line about who she is.  We will do the in-depth research.  Don’t assume your favorite is so obvious that we would just know to pick her.  There are so many women to honor and only so many days. 

Additionally, Women@NASA is hosting Women, Innovation and Aerospace on March 8th to celebrate Women’s History Month.  If you are near a NASA center, please attend!  All events are free and open to the public but seating is limited so you must register. Learn more here

It’s been an exciting time for us here at Women@NASA.  We have a steadily growing followership on Twitter and Facebook, most of whom we are positive don’t already read the blog.  This means we are reaching out to more and more people and with social media, our hope is we are also reaching out to young people and inspiring them to impact the world through science and engineering.  For the future, you can expect a smartphone application and partnerships with women’s organizations.  We won’t leak too many details but we can assure you they will be fun, lively, new, and targeted just for our readers/followers/supporters. 

Thanks for reading/following!