Subtitled, The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission, I can see this memoir becoming a best seller and a classic point of reference. As one of the Air Force’s first female pilots, the young Eileen Collins broke plenty of ground, but she is the first to admit that she built upon the work of women before her day. THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING TO THE STARS shows us just how far a woman – from any background, she states – can travel.

Eileen grew up with no privilege; she was unfortunate to have a father suffering from alcoholism, so that the family would run smoothly for a time and then have no money for food. Eileen’s mother threw out the gambling drinker and went to work, but the girl doesn’t seem to realise how much this family situation affected her performance in high school. Today, the much-decorated colonel and astronaut advises readers not to waste any early years but to get as good a grounding as they possibly can.

Eileen considered joining the Air Force at basic rank, but fate decreed otherwise, and she enrolled in further education paid for by part-time jobs. A few years later with an excellent community college result to her name, she applied for pilot officer training. We learn about her enthusiasm and dedication, and mistakes as well as successes. One aspect that came across very clearly to me, was that Eileen decided not to have boyfriends. She needed to log a thousand air miles before she would be considered for a further stage of her career, as an instructor, and this would not fit with partying or relationships.  Women were strictly banned from combat aircraft or fields of combat, but the brave pilot still took part in bringing supplies to a conflict zone at Grenada and evacuating medical students.  

The first chapter references Eileen’s Space Shuttle career with a launch, but years passed before the pilot became an astronaut. She co-piloted two Shuttle missions before being allowed to be Commander and pilot of the Shuttle. Her first mission to space was flown at the age of thirty-eight, her last at forty-eight, due to the many safety delays, groundings and two devastating losses relating to the fleet of Space Shuttles. The astronaut candidate programme involved the most incredible range and depth of work, from becoming proficient at Scuba diving to advanced aeronautics and simulator runs.

Eileen did meet and marry a pilot, who was hugely supportive, and she explains the difficult decisions facing women astronauts – do you have children, knowing a launch window is coming up in six months? How long can you wait? When you have children, who looks after them? And how do you tell the child you are getting into a rocket to do something fraught with danger at every stage?

Jonathan H. Ward has helped to prepare the memoir for publication, during the lockdown months. Women around the world can take inspiration; and anyone in a leadership role will learn many useful lessons about making decisions, doing the prep work, supporting the whole team, and asking to hear the bad news as well as the good.

I believe THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING TO THE STARS would be a splendid present for anyone interested in NASA, Mir, the ISS, the Air Force, planes generally, space, and the female experience during the second half of the twentieth century.

Book Summary