Space Milestone For Women
Eileen Collins, the nation's first female space shuttle pilot, will be promoted to shuttle commander Thursday at a White House ceremony with President Clinton and his wife Hillary, officials said.
A veteran of two space flights, the New York native will be the first woman in charge of a U.S. space mission.
Collins has flown two shuttle flights, The first one in 1995 was the initial mission in the Russian-American Space Program; the 1997 flight was the sixth U.S. mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
Collins, 42, as been in line to be assigned as shuttle commander. She will be named at this week's ceremony, at which Clinton will emphasize the importance of math and science studies.
Two shuttle missions are on tap. Columbia is to carry an X-ray telescope into space later this year, possibly in December. Endeavour is to make a space station delivery in December, though that mission may slip into the next year.
After the announcement, the first lady and Collins are expected to visit a local high school to emphasize the president's message about science and math. They are to be accompanied by actor Tom Hanks, producer of a 12-part HBO series about America's efforts to land the first person on the moon.
Hanks also starred in Apollo 13 a hit movie about a catastrophe-plagued space flight.
On Thursday night, the president and first lady will be the hosts at a White House preview of Hanks' series. The following night, Cambridge University physicist Stephen Hawking, author of the bestseller "A Brief History of Time," will give a lecture at the White House.
Collins, married and the mother of one child, has been an astronaut since 1991. Before that, she was an Air Force instructor pilot. She holds degrees from Syracuse University, Stanford University and Webster University.
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