Amelia Bowers
Editor
Mississippi University for Women had the great privilege of having the retired Colonel Eileen Collins speak at this year’s annual Welty Gala.
Collins, a former pilot and NASA astronaut, is the first woman to have commanded and piloted an American space shuttle. Her crowning achievements have made her an American icon and an inspiration for young men and women around the world.
Growing up in Elmira, New York, Collins always dreamed of flying.
“My dad would take us to the National Soaring Museum to see the planes. You could go right below the cliff and watch them take off,” she reminisced. “Watching them take off in the summer, it was beautiful, like birds. I wondered what it’d be like to be up there.”
Collins read prolifically as a child, especially about flight.
“I’d love reading about these pilots and these adventures and the women air force service pilots,” she says.
Female pilots like Jackie Cochran, Nancy Love, the Ninety-Nines Women’s Aviation Organization, and The Mercury 13 inspired her to pursue her dream of becoming a pilot.
Initially, her parents were wary about her joining the Air Force.
“I was in high school and I told my dad I was going to the Air Force, and he said ‘you are not!’ But then I told my dad that there was this ROTC program that’d pay for my last two years of college. He didn’t say anything after that,” she says.
It’s clear that Collins is a brilliant, strong-willed force who helped to pave the way for future female aviators and astronauts. So what kind of advice can she give about staying disciplined?
“Discipline. Just do it,” she says. “Discipline is hard. What got me through piloting was chair flying, where you sit in your chair and just go through the checklist in your head of everything you need to do. I think it’s okay to break your discipline every once in a while, but be aware of the repercussions.”
The afternoon before the Welty Gala, Collins gave a one-on-one presentation to students of the university’s Ina E. Gordy Honors College. Her discussion with the students followed her amazing journey to becoming an astronaut, and highlighted the beauty and mystique of space travel. Collins hopes to encourage students to consider the possibilities that space exploration presents, especially for future job opportunities.
“Many college students don’t know yet what they want to do with their life. I hope the students can think of how their field connects to space. Space touches every discipline you can think of,” she says. She also hopes that students recognize that space encompasses all fields and majors. “There’s beautiful space art and wonderful literature. It’s all very important.”
Collins considers herself very fortunate to have accomplished so much in her life.
“I’m lucky in my life that things sort of came together. There’s many more women that could have done it, but circumstances just made it not so,” she says.
Collins enjoys giving speeches and encouraging students to follow their dreams.
“It’s important for young people, boys and girls, to see people like me who have gone to space,” she explains. “What I try to do is share some of the mistakes I have made. So much training and preparation was required, but for me it was a dream come true. Don’t give up when you have a dream you want to achieve, but also have a backup plan.”