STS-63 Discovery (February 3-11, 1995) was not only the first flight of the new joint Russian-American Space Program.
Also on this mission, Eileen M. Collins was the first woman to pilot a space shuttle. In addition, it marked the first EVA (an extra-vehicular activity or spacewalk) for a Black US astronaut, Bernard A. Harris, Jr., and a dual citizen, UK-born astronaut, Michael Foale.
Mission highlights included the rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir, operation of Spacehab, the deployment and retrieval of an astronomy satellite, and a space walk.
Four years later, Collins became the first female shuttle commander (on the STS-93 Columbia, July 23-27, 1999).
Six years later (July 2005) she commanded the first space shuttle after the Columbia disaster in 2003.
#scitech, #space, #black history month, (014/365)
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