First woman to command a Space Shuttle mission

The first female astronaut to command a Space Shuttle mission was Eileen Collins (USA) who, between 23 and 28 July 1999, led Columbia mission STS-93 on its deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory payload.

Eileen Marie Collins was the first women to pilot a Space Shuttle, as part of STS-63 in February 1995. She is one of only two women to then go on to command the Space Shuttle, the other being fellow NASA astronaut Pamela A Melroy (STS-120 in October 2007). STS-93 was the 26th outing for Columbia (and the 95th Shuttle mission), tasked primarily with delivering the Shuttle's heaviest-ever payload, the 22.7-tonne (25-ton) Chandra X-ray Observatory. It was Collins' third spaceflight, having been first selected by NASA in 1990. By the time of her retirement in May 2006, the New York-born astronaut had spent more than 872 hours in space.