Collins,1June, 95619th was born in Elmira, new york. She is the second of four children in the family. She has been diligent and studious since childhood, with tenacious perseverance and self-motivation, and her academic performance from primary school to middle school has been among the best. Her father often takes her to see gliding and air shows. 10 years old, she is keen to simulate rocket flight activities with her brother. From 65438 to 0973, Collins joined the aviation club in high school, became more and more interested in aerospace, and decided to become a pilot and astronaut when he grew up. 1978, Collins joined the Air Force after graduating from Syracuse University. After a year's flight training, he became the coach pilot of the T-38 aircraft, and repeatedly drove the C- 14 1 large transport aircraft to transport American troops and weapons and equipment overseas. She has a flying history of more than 5,000 hours and has flown more than 30 different types of aircraft. 1985 entered Ohio air force institute of technology for further study, 1988 obtained a master's degree from Stanford university, and 1989 obtained a master's degree in aerospace system management from Webster university. 1990, she was selected to study at the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and was selected as a preparatory astronaut the following year.

As a pilot of the space shuttle, Collins and 33 male pilots insisted on standard training and strict requirements. She said: "As the first female pilot of the space shuttle, I feel glorious and proud, but I also feel new pressure, because my success is related to the fate of other female colleagues." She was determined to enter the male-dominated space driving field, so she postponed marriage and didn't care about having children. Her husband Yang Si is a pilot. He understands and supports her very much.

Her first space flight was really unusual, because she was the first female astronaut appointed as the pilot of the space shuttle. Knowing the symbolic meaning, she said, "I hope to succeed, because I know what this flight means to other female astronauts, and they also hope to get the opportunity to fly the space shuttle from NASA." 65438+1In the early morning of February 3, 995, the space shuttle Discovery piloted by Collins was launched and the 67th flight of the American space shuttle began. In this 8-day, 5.8-million-kilometer space flight, Collins had to fly the space shuttle to rendezvous with the orbit of the "Peace" space station. The flight was quite difficult and full of danger, but she accomplished the task well. On February 6, Collins drove Discovery to catch up with the Russian space station "Peace" at an altitude of 385 kilometers from the ground. At a distance of 800 meters, Collins changed from automatic flight control to manual flight control, which reduced the distance between two manned spacecraft in space to 1 1.3 meters. They fly side by side at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour relative to the ground, and the blue Pacific Ocean is just below the plane. American and Russian astronauts looked at each other through windows in space and waved. This is a wonderful and exciting moment. This historic meeting in space lasted for more than 10 minutes, and then slowly opened, and the astronauts on the two spaceships waved goodbye. During the whole flight, Collins was calm and showed his skillful driving skills. She and Commander weatherby cooperated tacitly, and weatherby praised her excellent performance: "We both trained as one person, and Collins can do whatever I can. Collins can help me if anything happens. " Collins demonstrated the outstanding talents of women in space flight. On February 1 1, Collins successfully returned to the ground with the space shuttle Discovery. When she stepped down the gangway, she looked particularly chic and radiant. When the reporter asked her what her next goal was, Collins replied without hesitation: "Being the commander of the space shuttle, of course!" " "

Two years later,1May 5, 997, 17, Collins once again served as a pilot, flew the space shuttle Atlantis into the sky, and returned to the ground on May 24, completing the sixth docking flight with the "Peace" space station. During the nine-day flight, it docked with the Peace Space Station for five days, sent American astronaut Fowler to the space station, and then picked up American astronaut Lennanger who stayed in the space station for four months. At the same time, 2 tons of urgently needed materials and equipment were delivered to the space station, including an oxygen generator and equipment to repair the leakage of the refrigeration system. Collins once again accomplished the task of flying the space shuttle brilliantly.

1On July 23, 999, Collins led four astronauts to travel in space on the space shuttle Columbia, realizing her wish to become the first female captain of the space shuttle. Although the flight was delayed twice because of excessive fuel accumulation and heavy rain, Collins had a good psychological quality, waited calmly and finally succeeded. Mello, a female astronaut of NASA, commented on Collins: "Her technology is really great. More importantly, she has a good personality, treats people kindly and is easy to get along with. " Five seconds after the space shuttle took off, Collins found that the power supply was short-circuited and immediately reported the battery box failure to the ground control center. It was found that the power system was temporarily short-circuited and had no effect on flight. Collins calmly and decisively dealt with the problems encountered in the flight. She directed the successful launch of the 20-ton Chandra telescope. This is the main task of this flight. On July 25th, Collins received a congratulatory message from Afana Scheff, commander of the "Peace" space station. He said, "I sincerely congratulate you. You are a brave woman. " Collins also expressed sincere greetings to the astronauts of the "Peace" space station. On July 28th, the space shuttle Columbia returned, landed on a rare night under the command of Collins, and stopped smoothly on the runway of Kennedy Space Center, ending its 2.5 million-kilometer space flight. The ground control center rated the landing as "very beautiful". After the mission was completed, the first female captain of the space shuttle in human history said from the heart, "What I want to do most now is to go home as soon as possible and live a normal life."