She is the astronaut who broke the glass ceiling. And she kept going.

Eileen Collins made history by becoming the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft, but despite her remarkable achievements, not everyone knows her name.

Now, a feature-length documentary titled Spacewoman, which chronicles her pioneering career, looks set to change that.

We met Collins at London's Science Museum.

She's soft-spoken, warm, and down-to-earth, but you quickly sense her focus and determination.

She clearly has great inner strength.

“I was reading an article in a magazine about the Gemini astronauts. I was probably 9 years old, and it just seemed like the coolest thing in the world. That's what I want to do,” she remembers thinking.

“Of course, there were no female astronauts back then. But I thought, 'I'll be a female astronaut.'”

That little girl had even bigger goals: she wanted to be at the controls of a spacecraft.

And the only way to achieve that was to enlist in the military and become a test pilot.

In the Air Force, she stood out from the crowd and was selected to join the astronaut program. She was going to pilot space shuttles, NASA's reusable “space planes.”

She knew the eyes of the world were on her when her first mission launched in 1995.

“As the first woman to pilot the space shuttle, I worked really hard because I didn't want people to say, 'Look, the woman made a mistake.' Because it wasn't just about me, it was about the women who would come after us,” she says.

“And I wanted female pilots to have a reputation that said, 'Hey, they're really good.'”

Mother and Commander

She was so good, in fact, that she was soon promoted to commander, another first in space.

Collins was also the mother of two young children.

The fact that she was a working wife and mother was frequently mentioned in press conferences of the time,and some journalists seemed surprised that she could be both.

Collins notes that being a mother and a commander were “the two greatest jobs in the world.”

“But I will tell you, it’s harder to be a mother than a space shuttle commander,” she says, laughing.

“The best training I’ve had to be a commander has been being a mother, because you have to learn how to say no to people.”

Tough Times

NASA’s space shuttles, which flew for three decades, reached impressive heights, but they also endured some terrible times.

In 1986, the Challenger spacecraft suffered a catastrophic failure seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members on board.

And in 2003, the shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies over Texas at the end of its mission, also killing its seven crew members.

A piece of foam Columbia’s fuel tank insulation tore off during launch, damaging the heat shield with devastating results.

Columbia couldn’t withstand the fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated as the world watched in horror.

Collins shakes her head as she recalls the disaster and the friends who lost their lives.

But as commander, she had to take charge: she would be in charge of the next shuttle flight.

Did she think about bailing out at that point?

“Everyone in the shuttle program was counting on the commander to keep going,” she says quietly.

“I think abandoning the mission would have been the opposite of brave… and I wanted to be a brave leader. I wanted to be a confident leader. I wanted to instill that confidence in others.”

But when her mission finally lifted off in 2005, the nightmare repeated itself. A piece of foam broke off during launch.

This time, however, there was a plan to monitor for damage. But that meant performing one of the riskiest maneuvers in space history.

Collins had to pilot the shuttle through a 360-degree turn while flying beneath the International Space Station. This allowed her colleagues on the orbiting laboratory to photograph the underside of the craft and check for damage to the heat shield.

“There were engineers and managers who said it was impossible, giving all kinds of reasons why it was too dangerous,” she says.

“I heard the discussion, they knew I was the commander, and I said, ‘It looks like we can do it.’”

With his hands firm on the controls and his voice calm as he spoke to mission control, Collins piloted the craft in a slow, graceful somersault.

With the underside of the shuttle now visible, the damage was quickly identified and a spacewalk was conducted to repair it.

This meant Collins and his crew could return home safely.

This was Collins's final flight. She tells us she always planned to quit after her fourth mission, to give others the chance to go to space.

And she’s seen many astronauts follow in her footsteps.

Does she have any advice for the next generation who dream of the stars?

“Do your homework, listen to your teacher, pay attention in class, and read books, and that will give you something to focus on,” she says matter-of-factly.

Those who follow Collins into space will learn how much she has accomplished, not only as a woman, but as a formidable pilot and commander.

She says she has no regrets about ending her astronaut career. She made her decision and hasn't looked back.

But there's still a nostalgic look in her eyes when we ask if she'd be tempted if a seat on a spaceship became free.

“Yes, I would love to go on a mission one day. When I'm old, maybe I'll have the chance to return to space.”