Shuttle Chief Sees Slow Rise for Women

Col. Eileen Collins, who on the 30th anniversary of the first moonwalk will become the first woman to command a crew in space, said such an opportunity had “been a long time coming. Women helped pioneer aviation,” Collins, 42, said at a news briefing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, adding that, starting around 1930, “women were not given the same opportunities [in aviation] as men.” Although barriers have started to fall, Collins said more young women need to choose technical and scientific careers before women can be fully represented in space.