Eileen Collins is the first female to pilot a space shuttle mission and to hold the position of Captain and Commander of a space shuttle mission!
Colonel Collins is a veteran of four space shuttle missions and became the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle. Her second space flight was as Pilot for STS-84 Atlantis and she returned to space for a third time as Commander of STS-93 Columbia. She was the first woman to command a space shuttle mission. Her fourth and last space mission was as Commander of STS-114 Discovery, the return to space flight after the Columbia disaster of February 1, 2003. Colonel Collins retired as a NASA astronaut and from the United States Air Force in 2006.