GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
EILEEN COLLINS

[My daughter] Bridget thinks everybody’s mommy flies the space shuttle.

Col. Eileen Collins USAF

First female Space Shuttle commander. Press interviews, 7 July 1999. Quoted in her 2021 book Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars.

I don’t take crazy risks. I’m afraid to get on a roller coaster, I really am. It’s dumb. I have no control over the thing once I’m on it.

Eileen Collins

Test pilot, astronaut, space shuttle commander, interview in the Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2005.

There was my mom and I had a wife for a long time and now there is my fiancée. Eileen is in a long line of women who have given me orders.

Jeffrey S. Ashby

Space Shuttle pilot on STS-93, on flying under Eileen Collins’ command, 1999.

I’m honored to be the first woman to have the opportunity to command the shuttle. I don’t really think about that on a day-to-day basis because I really don’t need to.

Col. Eileen Collins USAF

First female Space Shuttle commander, 24 June 1999. (But I've lost the original citation). Also like her quote from WOMAN IN THE NEWS -- Eileen Marie Collins; Woman's Work: Space Commander, the New York Times, 24 July 1999:

“Eventually, having women in these roles won't be news anymore. It will be accepted and expected. I'm setting a precedent for women to follow. With that in mind, I want to do the best job that I can.”

Because of [Amelia Earhart], we had more women available to fly in the 1940’s to help us get through World War II. And because of these women, women of my generation are able to look back and say, ‘Hey, they did it. They even flew military airplanes, we can do it, too.’

Col. Eileen Collins USAF

Television interview 100 Years of Great women, on ABC with Barbara Walters, 30 April 1999.

We talk about risk and safety, and I hear a lot of people say, “Safety is number one.” “Safety is the most important thing.“ It’s not entirely true. Safety is really important. And we need to always keep safety in front of us. But in the end, what’s number one is to go.

Wayne Hale,

Former NASA Mission Control Flight Director and Manager Space Shuttle Program. Reflecting on STS-114, the Return to Space mission, and the career and character of Eileen Collins, at the end of the 2024 documentary Spacewoman.