June 18, 2023, marks the 40th anniversary of the day Sally Ride blasted off aboard the shuttle Challenger to become America’s first woman in space. By breaking NASA’s gender barrier, Ride inspired girls and young people from diverse backgrounds to blaze trails that previously had seemed off-limits to them.

Colonel Eileen Collins is available to offer her perspective as an American astronaut and being a catalyst for change within NASA and America. Another female NASA pioneer, Colonel Eileen Collins was NASA’s first female commander of a space mission on Shuttle Columbia.

Colonel Collins has published her memoir “Through The Glass Ceiling To The Stars” which takes readers on a rocket ride through Eileen’s crowning achievements as the first woman to command an American space mission as well as the first to pilot the space shuttle to her early years as one of the Air Force’s first female pilots. She was in the first class of women to earn pilot’s wings at Vance Air Force Base, their first woman instructor pilot, and only the second woman pilot admitted to the Air Force’s elite Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base. Her remarkable achievements and leadership led to her induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

As we remember Sally Ride’s launch into space and American History on the 40th anniversary of her flight, let’s celebrate all those that broke through barriers and cleared the path for others to reach for the stars.