NASA's first woman mission commander to talk about success, failures

New Delhi : Eileen Collins, first female astronaut to pilot a NASA space shuttle, will be speaking from 7-9 p.m. Thursday (March 29) at Loeb Playhouse in Stewart Center. 

The 61-year-old retired astronaut and US Air Force Colonel will be talking about her success and failures, offering an insight into her experiences both as an astronaut and as an Air Force Test pilot. 

Collins’ appearance is part of a speaker series coordinated by the Purdue Student Union Board. The event is free and open to the public.

She was selected for NASA's astronaut programme while attending the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The official tag of an astronaut came to her in July 1991, post which she was involved in four missions aboard the space shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Columbia between 1995 and 2005, logging more than 800 hours in space.

Collins has also logged more than 6,751 hours in 30 different types of aircraft before retiring from the Air Force in 2005.