Eileen Collins was born in Elmira, New York in 1956. When she was young, she found her inspiration in the Mercury astronauts – but noticed during that time, there wasn't any women astronauts to look up to. 1/10 
She received an associate’s in math/science from Corning CC and went on to achieve a bachelor’s in math and economics from Syracuse University. After that she got her master’s in operations research at Stanford AND a master’s in space systems management from Webster Uni. 2/10
She attended Vance Air Force Base where she was one of four women chosen for the Undergraduate Pilot Training. There she earned her pilot wings and became a T-38 Talon instructor pilot and eventually a C-141 Starlifter pilot. 3/10
She attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1986-1989, where she became the 2nd female pilot to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. After being selected as an astronaut in 90, she became the 1st female commander of a shuttle on STS-93 in 1999. 4/10
She also piloted the historic “Return to Flight" mission, STS-114, to the International Space Station (ISS), following the space shuttle Columbia disaster. During this mission she became the first astronaut to complete the 360-degree pitch maneuver. 5/10
This maneuver allowed astronauts on the ISS take photographs of the shuttle's underbelly to safeguard that there was no threat of debris damage to the shuttle during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. 6/10
Her advice for young people, in a news article from NASA: ”‘go into the field you are most interested in. If you love your job, you'll do well in your job.’ 7/10
While coming from a mathematics, science, or technology background is a must, there's a lot of variety in what exactly you can pursue. In fact, Collins discourages people from looking at what other astronauts are in and choosing that. 8/10
The exact opposite worked for her-when she joined the corps, there were no astronauts in her field, operations research. ‘I said I think I can fill a void, and I think they bought it.’” 9/10
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