September 25, 2007—NASA’s pressing ahead with launch preparations for October’s mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. The Agency sounds confident it can keep to the planned October 23^rd launch date---we’ll see. Fixing the leaky hydraulic seals on the spacecraft’s right main landing gear ate up whatever contingency time NASA had left going into the countdown. Any more hiccups could mean problems with an on-time liftoff.

As we get closer to the actual blastoff, you’ll probably hear a lot about Discovery’s Commander Pam Melroy. She will be the last woman to make the move from Shuttle Pilot to Mission Commander. NASA picks first-time Commanders from its pool of Shuttle Pilots. The Agency selected only three women to train to fly the spacecraft, and Melroy is the only one still on active duty. She's been in space, flying in the right-hand Pilot’s seat on two previous missions to the International Space Station. Each flight added sections to the outpost’s long external frame, in 2000 and 2002.

The other two women to fly in space as Shuttle pilots were Susan Still and Eileen Collins. Still piloted Shuttle Columbia twice in quick succession in 1997. A fuel cell problem forced NASA to cut the first flight short in April, but mission managers kept the experiments on the Shuttle, and flew the same vehicle and crew again in July. Still retired from NASA in 2002 before Commanding a flight. Eileen Collins, of course, made history as the first woman to fly as a Shuttle Pilot in 1995 on the first rendezvous between the Shuttle and the Russian Space Station MIR. She went onto Command two missions, to launch the Chandra X-Ray Telescope, and to make the return-to-flight mission following the Columbia accident.

Melroy make be able to get another flight as Commander before the Shuttle program ends in 2010. But, with no other women "in the pipeline", she’s likely to be the last woman to lead a mission.

Photo courtesy of NASA