Collins Seeing Her Dreams Come True She Salutes All The Women ‘That Have Gone Before Me And Have Taken To The Skies’

For Eileen Collins, the White House announcement Thursday of her appointment as the first female to command a U.S. space mission was a dream come true, but for the woman beside her, a dream unfulfilled.

A cheerful Collins, dressed in her blue NASA jumpsuit, paid homage to all the women aviation pioneers who came before her. But that roster did not include one person who was rebuffed in her efforts to join the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The first lady received a measure of recompense as she stood in the Roosevelt Room to announce the appointment of Collins as the first woman to command a space shuttle.

“When I was 14 or so I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. I even wrote to NASA - that was before Administrator (Daniel) Goldin was in charge - to find out what I needed to do to prepare myself to see the stars up close. Unfortunately, I got one of those really thin envelopes back, which is never a good sign. NASA thanked me for my interest but said that women weren’t being considered for the job,” the first lady recalled.

“Well,” she added with a smile, “times have certainly changed.”

Collins, 41, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force who has piloted two previous shuttles, becomes the first woman to lead a space mission in the 37-year history of U.S. spaceflight.

“Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed about space,” said Collins, flanked by the president and first lady. “I’ve admired pilots, astronauts, and I’ve admired explorers of all kinds. And it was only a dream of mine that I would someday be one of them and have these kinds of opportunities.”

Collins, a native of New York, will command a December flight of Columbia, which will take a high-powered X-ray telescope into space. She and her husband, Pat Youngs, have one daughter.

“I also think it’s important that I point out that I didn’t get here alone,” Collins said. “There are so many women throughout this century that have gone before me and have taken to the skies: from the first barnstormers through the women military Air Force service pilots from World War II … to the first women who entered the Air Force and Navy military pilot training in the mid-1970s.”

She also mentioned women who preceded her in space travel, including Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space in 1983, who sat in the audience. “All these women have been my role models and my inspiration and I couldn’t be here today without them,” she said.

President Clinton noted that 40 years ago Life Magazine introduced America to the Mercury Seven astronauts, all military pilots, all in their 30s and all men.

“Today we celebrate the falling away of another barrier in America’s quest to conquer the frontiers of space and also to advance the cause of equality,” Clinton said. “She may not fit the exact mold of 40 years ago, but she clearly embodies the essential qualities of all our astronauts, then and now, the bold, restless, pioneering spirit that has made our nation great.”

While the White House and the first lady used the event to cheer Collins’ appointment, officials also wanted to use the symbolism to underscore the need for school students, especially girls, to study math and science.

Test results released last week suggested U.S. students do poorly at math and science, and often girls are not encouraged to take the more challenging courses.

Janice Weinman of the American Association of University Women said Collins’ appointment “sends a very special message to the young women of this country. This is a clear representation of where girls can go and what young women can achieve.”

Afterward, Collins confided that it is “almost daunting” to be a national and international role model.

“I just want to tell everybody that you’ve got to take on tough challenges in life. You’ve got to say, ‘I have a dream and this is what I want to do with my life.’ And you are going to have barriers along the way. I’ve had barriers after barriers after barriers. I’ve worked over them and around them and I’ve just continued to work hard. That’s the message I want to give young people,” she said.

Ride, now teaching at the University of California at San Diego, told reporters Collins was a great choice. “This is a wonderful day. It’s been a long time coming. I wish I could have flown on a flight with her. I think that would have been spectacular.”