Great Women in Aviation #5 - Eileen Collins Astronaut/and First Female Space Shuttle Pilot and Commander (Great Women inAviation) (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

These short biographies in the Great Women in Aviation Series tell the stories of notable women pilots whose passion for flight inspires young and old alike to take to the skies. This 2,300 illustrated monograph is not meant to be a comprehensive history of Eileen Collins’s life, but it discusses her involvement in aviation, and the positive message she conveys. The main purpose of this biography is to inspire youth to follow their dreams of flight. This will make an excellent source for a book report or other paper. One reason Eileen Collins became the first woman Space Shuttle pilot is her heavy background in mathematics and science. She says that traditionally, women have not been encouraged to major in these subjects and feels that when more do, there will be more opportunities opened to them. Although the U.S. Navy accepted women as pilots in 1974, the U.S. Air Force did not until 1976. In 1976, when Collins was a college sophomore, the Air Force announced it would begin training women as pilots. NASA followed suit in 1978, and began accepting women into the shuttle program – just about the time Collins was deciding what to do with her life.