I loved reading Eileen Collins' story of her life! How she set a goal for herself and followed through by going through all the steps to achieve her goal. She is an inspiration to everyone to show that working hard, putting in your dues, and never giving up, you can achieve your goals. She didn't let any setbacks deter her from reaching her goals, she remained reasonable and determined. Great story of a brilliant woman!

This was a very interesting and informative read. The author did an excellent job describing her life regarding space exploration - from desiring to be an astronaut as a child to joining the military to becoming a test pilot and, eventually, becoming an astronaut. She mainly focuses on her space career, which is the scope of the book. She provides enough detail about her different professions that I learned that there's quite a bit more than I thought that goes into becoming a pilot - let alone becoming the pilot of a craft going into space. There are a few interesting "stories" about her military and space career, but nothing gossipy or petty (which was refreshing to read). Ms. Collins's desire was to share her story so that anyone could achieve their dreams. It wasn't an easy - or simple - journey for her, but she persevered, which I believe is a message for everyone. I rate this book a very high 4.5 stars.

Eileen Collins was obsessed with flying. Maybe it was an unusual preoccupation for a girl, but her parents – despite their struggles with mental illness and alcoholism – always encouraged her to pursue her own path. Despite a slow start, an unremarkable high school career, Eileen found her drive as she approached the end of her teens….and threw herself onto a path would take her to the US Air Force, and into Earth orbit, an accomplished pilot and well-respected mission commander. Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars is the remarkable biography of a young woman who overcame the challenges of a difficult, mis-spent youth to become a pioneer in aviation, clearing the way for other women who wished to become military pilots…or even astronauts.

If anything marks Through the Glass Ceiling, it’s dogged hard work. Throughout, Collins takes on enormous workloads and commits herself to being The Best. In retaliation for wasting her high school years on pipe courses, Collins continually challenged herself every year thereafter. She never settled for less: when she realized that the Air Force held women to lower standards of fitness and physical performance than the men, she requested permission to train with the men – not willing to be anything less than she could be. These were not easy years for a woman to pursue a career in the armed forces, particularly the Air Force: not only did Collins experience campus hostility when she wore her ROTC uniform, but the Air Force had only recently opened pilot training to women, and even then it was scrupulously avoiding pilot assignments that would put women anywhere near a combat zone. That made navigating into NASA particularly challenging, because it required pilots to have fulfilled Test Pilot training, and that program’s requirements weren’t readily fulfilled by the support aircraft Collins was allowed to fly as a woman. But even if was just flying a transport, she’d be the best transport pilot imaginable – studying manuals to know her systems in and out, hanging out with the mechanics to absorb information that most pilots overlooked. As it happened, her time spent flying ‘trucks’ was excellent background for the shuttle program.

Getting into NASA when she did was an extraordinarily close thing, between fulling her service obligations to the Air Force and avoiding the age cut-off for the Test Pilot program. Collins’ commitment to excellence and unwavering hard work won her allies, people who realized she had what it took to make go further – she had the right stuff. Collins was often given choice opportunities, like flying in an F-15. After joining NASA, she performed well in her first two missions as a shuttle pilot, and then became the first woman to command a shuttle mission: she was chosen to be the ‘first’ because NASA knew whatever the stress, Collins could handle it. It helped that she had moral support from other pioneers, like Sally Ride – the first American woman in space, and someone who knew the immense pressure Collins was under. Ride reached out to Collins both before her first shuttle mission, and before her first command. Most notably, Collins’ command was the first Shuttle mission following the Columbia post-mortum: she carried not only her crew’s lives, but the future of the program on her shoulders.

Through the Glass Ceiling will rank as one of my favorite astronaut memoirs, though Collins offers more content than just a recap of her missions. Cognizant of her role as a pioneer – being the first woman to fly an F-15, for instance, or command a shuttle – she frequently offers lessons to the reader, and she doesn’t shy away from sharing her mistakes, either. She goes into considerable detail about all the various aspects of her career, which – to any reader fascinated by aviation – makes this a potluck of interesting planes and observations about the challenges of pushing them to the limit. This one is absolutely recommended, especially for parents who want to encourage their teens to go beyond what they think is possible.

This is the story of Eileen Collins, and the incredible accomplishments and achievements throughout her life. Her story goes from childhood through her career in NASA. During this time she had many accomplishments, including being the first female pilot at NASA as well as first female commander.

Honestly, her life really is incredible. Reading this book really gave me an idea of what it takes to become an astronaut. I had no idea of the rigors of being a pilot in the Air Force. She details much of her early career; and I was blown away by the skill, technical knowledge, and commitment that is required. Just to make it to the stage she did in the Air Force is exceptional. You learn so much reading the book; but be warned, it made me feel like a low performing couch potato in comparison. She does touch on what it was like being a women several times throughout the book, although she doesn't spend a lot of time on it. I got the feeling that she knew many aspects were unfair, but she had her sights on something and wasn't going to dwell on it. I kind of wish she had explored the topic more rather than with so much brevity. From her book:
"I find it crazy that the first woman pilot and commander was me. How in the world did that happen? As a young girl with no special talents, someone who stuttered and was painfully shy, I empowered my aspirations to become real through my decisions and work ethic"

I will say, some of the writing seems fairly methodical. It isn't the beautiful writing of James Herriott for example. In the book she talks about writing up reports, and in some way I think the book feels a little like a report on her life. While there are pages and pages talking about an airplane, more personal things or events that seem like they would warrant more introspection and only told in one sentence which feels dropped into the story without warning and then abandoned. While the book is incredible interesting and fact packed, I think it would have benefited from more depth of personal experience. She did have one beautiful description that really stuck with me:
"When separated from Earth, you become even more attuned to Earth. Your love for your home planet grows, and you're filled with a desire to take care of this wonderful place. When you look the other direction and see the absolute blackness of space, you realize there are no other planets we could ever hope to reach that are even remotely like ours"

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you are interested in space, flying, or remarkable people I would highly recommend

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

I had high expectations for this book when I requested it, and I was not disappointed. This one ranks right up there with Michael Collins' Carrying the Fire as one of the finest books about space exploration. I am definitely looking forward to reading more from Col. Collins.

Eileen Collins, also known as Col. Eileen M. Collins,USAF (Retired) is the American Dream personified. A true patriot, she shares her story, from small town girl to NASA Space Shuttle Commander. Let’s clarify that. She was was the FIRST woman shuttle pilot and then commander, and she participated in four shuttle missions.

The author starts with her early life. She saw herself as a girl with no special talents, who stuttered and was “painfully shy.” She had a humble beginning and she grew up in Elmira, New York. What really astounded me was when Eileen described her high school graduation, where she realized that many other students had been awarded prizes and scholarships and she had not. She decided to focus and become more.

She put herself through community college, majoring in math and science and then entered the Air Force ROTC program at Syracuse University. From there, not even the sky was the limit for Ms Collins. She rapidly progressed through the years of pilot training. She achieved her dream of being accepted into the NASA astronaut program. Her nickname was “Mom” and “Mrs. Clever”.

She write her book in an honest, open and modest way. This is a factual book, not a personal “tell-all” and she does not disclose much of her personal life. She gives clear descriptions of her career and flights to space and the space station, making the technical info understandable. She is a positive person who didn’t fear or even acknowledge “the glass ceiling”. She just did her best. She is happiest and most connected when she focuses on the mission and helping others. And she is always prepared.

This is an inspiring look at an exciting part of American history, written by a true hero. I myself was a shy girl, who crowded around the small black and white tv screen in my classroom to watch the Mercury and Apollo launches. To think another young girl with dreams of space grew up to achieve so much is incredible and wonderful to me.

And now, a world of new space attempts is opening up. “Though the Glass Ceiling to the Stars” will show you the start of USA space exploration, and I hope it encourages everyone to persevere and follow their dreams. Great book. Thanks to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an advance digital review copy. This is my honest review.