SPACE: first female shuttle commander named

Kathryn Aegis (aegis@igc.apc.org)
Wed, 4 Mar 1998 19:25:29 +0000


>From the AP Wire:

Washington. 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 Wednesday. She will be the first woman in charge of a U.S.
space mission.

Collins has flown two shuttle flights, onein 1995 and another in
1997, and has been in line to be assigned as shuttle commander. She
will be named at a ceremony where 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. Endeavor
is to make a space station delivery in December, though that mission
may slip into next year.

(AP also mentions that Stephen Hawkings will be giving a lecture at
the White House afterwards, but I don't think any of us are going to
get to see that!)