First Woman to Pilot Shuttle

Date: February 3, 1995 • Location: Moscow, Russia

In mission STS-63, astronaut Eileen Collins (pictured) became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle.

STS-63 was the second mission of the U.S.-Russian Shuttle–Mir program and the 20th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. Dubbed the "Near-Mir" mission, it achieved the first rendezvous between an American Space Shuttle and Russia's space station, Mir. Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on February 3, 1995, in a night launch. This mission featured several milestones, Eileen Collins became the first female pilot of a Space Shuttle and the first extravehicular activities for both a U.K. born astronaut, Michael Foale, and an astronaut of African heritage, Bernard A. Harris, Jr. STS-63 also successfully deployed and retrieved the Spartan-204 and executed a flyaround of Mir, a critical rehearsal for the upcoming STS-71 mission, which would mark the first shuttle docking with the Russian space station.