Eileen Collins, otherwise known as the first female shuttle commander, to work for NASA made strides that people such as Sally Ride could have only dreamed of. The years of hard work that came before her from the many women on this webpage made something this spectacular happen. Her entire life, she envisioned becoming an astronaut, even throughout the pessimistic society that continuously told her that women couldn’t do it. She joined ROTC during her college career and then joined the air force in the first class to allow women to go through pilot training. At that point in time, she knew she was setting the stage for women to come and did not want to drop the ball. Finally, in 1990, her hard work paid off and she officially was announced as the first female pilot of the Apollo 16 mission. Her career extended from 1991-2006 as a NASA astronauts, commanding or piloting on four total space flights.