Eileen Collins was the first woman to command a space shuttle. A new documentary shows how she got there

‘Spacewoman’ chronicles how Collins persevered against odds to become the first female space shuttle pilot and commander.

Eileen Collins training to be a pilot, aged 21. [Photo: Collins family image, used with permission/Haviland Digital in association with Tigerlily Productions]

The first time a 17-year-old Eileen Collins drove solo after getting her driver’s license was to follow the ambulance carrying her mother after a suicide attempt. After two decades raising four children on welfare and fending off an abusive, alcoholic husband, her mother was done. It was Collins who found her in time and called the police. After such a traumatizing childhood, had Collins simply gone on to make a stable life, she would have........

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