EVANSVILLE, Indiana – Eileen Collins knew that in grade four she wanted to become an astronaut.

Internet and Google did not exist yet, which made it difficult to find a way to become one. Whatever the case may be, Collins, 61, has studied the "old – fashioned method" and learned that many astronauts were engineers, scientists or mathematicians, and most of them were young. between them were military test pilots.

Collins was disappointed to learn – at the time – that the military did not allow women to take pilot training.

That changed in 1976, said Collins, two years after graduating from high school.

To open the door to teaching if the military did not work, she earned an associate's degree from Corning Community College and a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University in 1978, all specializing in mathematics, science and economics .

Ret. Colonel Collins was then in the first female class at his US Air Force Base in Oklahoma to train as a pilot.

She then became the first woman to fly an American spacecraft with the Discovery shuttle flight in 1995 and the first woman to take command of the Columbia Shuttle flight in 1999. In 2005, NASA appointed her to command the Discovery Shuttle's historic Return to Flight mission, its first manned flight after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Collins will deliver a speech at the University of Evansville at 7 pm. Wednesday at Eykamp Hall of the Ridgway University Center of the EU as part of Patricia H. Snyder's series of concerts and lectures.

The speech is free and open to the public. Reservations are encouraged, but not required on evansville.edu. The conference will focus on how her career has taken shape and she will share what she has learned from her successes and failures.

In a recent telephone interview with Courier & Press, Collins said it was difficult to determine what was calling him on the ground.

This could be due to the fact that his hometown, Elmira, in upstate New York, was near the Soaring National Museum, where gliders flew in the summer.

"I remember that my friends were not interested at all," Collins said. "I did not really talk about it, but when we talked about what we wanted to be sometime in the 1960s, it was pretty traditional for women to go to teaching, to be a secretary or a nurse. . There were nice career fields expected.

Courier & Press: Have you had to overcome difficulties as a woman in a career historically dominated by men?

Eileen Collins: I was the only teacher in my squadron. But the vast majority of men were very hospitable with women and the instructors were of great help in helping them to take a pilot training. There was not a lot of adversity. You would sometimes have rude comments on "Why are women here?" Because it changed the culture.

Honestly, I could see how some people were not comfortable with the presence of women because it was in 1978 and the base where I was training in Oklahoma n & # 39; 39, had formed only men since 1944. So I tried to understand them and work with them.

The most important thing was that the women did their best and showed that we could be the best drivers. And I think we did it.

I had some frustrations that women were not allowed to fight and I could not fly some of the planes I wanted to fly.

C & P: How did you manage the pressure and did you stay focused?

Collins: I never really felt anxious when I was flying. Let me tell you something. If you take a person on the street and put them on a space shuttle, they would be very scared because it's a violent orbit. Then you enter a very strange environment where you float, and you can not even control your body the first few days when you try to do a mission.

It is therefore very stressful to fly in space.

But here's the thing, NASA's training for astronauts was simply outstanding. And I would say to my crew as commander: there is no one in the world better trained than you for this mission. Frankly, you are the only person who can do it. And we are counting on you. We also worked together in a group.

C & P: What is the most memorable part of space? How is it up there?

Collins: The first time you get out of your seat and float inside the Space Shuttle, you feel like you're weightless. It's very disturbing. It feels almost the first time you wear roller skates or snow skis. You have very little control over your body.

Looking at the earth by the window, watching the sunrise, the ocean, the weather and cities are hard to pin down because they are very small and we are obviously very far away. But it is very easy to choose historical places such as the Middle East or some European countries such as Greece and Italy. It's just a beautiful sight.

Then, when you observe the curvature of the earth, you are dazzled. We all know that we live on the outside of the planet Earth, but when you look at it, you realize that people are living outside of a balloon and that something called gravity keeps us going glued to the surface.

Then you look at the atmosphere, you see how thin it is and you realize that it's just a very thin layer of air that allows us to breathe and stay alive. It changes the way you see your life. You start to think more of a global perspective.

It makes you want to take care of the planet Earth, because when you look on the other side, you only see the darkness of the space, and you realize if there is another planet like the Earth – and we do not know – but if there is, it's far enough.

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