Mentor Connections Across the Globe and Beyond

Astronaut Eileen Collins shares why she continues to return to her alma mater and the lessons she can share from her time exploring the unknown.

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and former NASA space shuttle commander Eileen Collins ’78, H’01 rose through the NASA ranks to become the first woman to both pilot and command space shuttle missions. Today, Collins’ mission includes returning to the Syracuse University campus to bring the lessons she’s learned along the way to the next generation of explorers and thinkers. Elliot Salas ’24, an electrical engineering student pursuing a career in space travel, got the opportunity to meet Collins. “For a famous astronaut, she’s surprisingly down to Earth,” he says of the inspirational figure in his life.

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Eileen Collins in the cockpit of a spacecraft.

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