Shuttle commander ready for mission

ELMIRA, N.Y. – Discovery Commander Eileen Collins can thank Pudgie’s Pizza for helping her become an aviation pioneer.

The retired Air Force pilot and sole woman shuttle commander is poised to lead the nation back into space today, but that historic role might not have come about if she had never cooked Pudgie’s signature Italian-sausage sandwich.

It was that job and a few others that allowed Collins to save $1,000 to pay for her first flying lessons at a local airport in 1977.

Collins’ life has traveled light years in the three decades since she left the small town of Elmira, N.Y. Every milestone – the second woman to get into the Air Force Test Pilot School, the first to be chosen as a NASA pilot, the only woman to command a shuttle voyage – has brought scrutiny and pressure.

Today, it’s no different.

Collins and her crew are set to return NASA to space after a 21/2-year hiatus since seven astronauts died aboard the shuttle Columbia in February 2003. The wife, mother, mathematician and hiker downplays the stress that undoubtedly comes with her latest assignment.

“We are aware that the whole world is watching, but we focus on the mission,” Collins said during a training session in Houston in April. “We work from day to day and really try to block out what’s happening in the rest of the world.”

Those who know Collins say the commander can handle the high-stakes flight. With a soothing personality and coolheaded approach, they say, she is an ideal choice to lead the wounded agency back into orbit.

Her pilot nickname, or call sign, says it all: Mom.

“She is very easy-going, calm, a very nurturing person,” said Pamela Melroy, an Air Force colonel and the only other woman pilot at NASA. “I think the thing that comes across most about Eileen is that she is genuine, she is always herself. She is not trying to put on a leadership style that doesn’t suit her just to fit an image.”

And she’s a good listener, said Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, one of Collins’ crewmembers. “She carefully considers your input,” Lawrence said. “She wants to make sure that everyone’s heard, and then she’ll make the decision. She always makes sure you know why she did what she did.”

At home, Collins’ focus is squarely on her 9-year-old daughter, Bridget, and 4-year-old son, Luke. The family, she said, is very supportive.

But even so, landing day is bound to be more stomach-churning than usual. Before Columbia was lost on its return to Earth, Collins’ sister, Margaret Conklin, never worried much about the dangers of the flight home.

This time, she knows it will be different.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Conklin. “Before, we would just sit and wait to hear the (sonic) booms, but there’s going to be some anxiety this time.”