Columbia's launch won't be the first time a milestone is set for women in the field of flight and aeronautics. Women have participated in and contributed to humankind's great developments in the field since its incipient period in the early 1900's.

When NASA was chartered in 1958, women had made their mark, not just in support roles, but, as pioneer engineers, mathematicians and technicians.

In 1911, eight years after Orville Wright's first successful flight, Harriet Quimby became the first American woman to earn a pilot's license. In 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

In 1929, the 99 members of the Ninety-Nines Inc. International, a women's pilots association, held their first meeting.

Olive Ann Beech co-founded Beech Aircraft and worked alongside her husband, Walter, during the 1930s and 1940s. After his death, she became President and CEO, and transformed the company into a multimillion-dollar, international aerospace corporation.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a transatlantic solo flight.

In 1939, Vera Huckel began her career at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NASA's predecessor, as an engineer. She was one of only three women engineers at NACA's Langley Research Center during that time.

In 1940, physicist Pearl Young became NACA's first female professional, paving the way for women to work in laboratories, and making her one of the first prominent women in the Agency. She also pioneered a process for aeronautical engineers to communicate their ideas and technical information to disseminate to industry, academia, and other government labs.

In 1960, Nancy Roman, Ph.D., became the first Chief Astronomer at NASA.

In 1965, Marjorie R. Townsend became the first woman to manage a U.S. spacecraft launch.

In 1974, Mary Helen Johnston, Ann Whitaker, Carolyn Griner and Doris Chandler comprised an all-women science team for experiments at the Marshall Space Flight Center. In the late 1990s, Carolyn Griner, Ph.D., went on to serve as acting center director at Marshall.

In January 1978, the first women joined the astronaut corps: Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnick, Sally K. Ride, Anna L. Fisher and Shannon W. Lucid.

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride, Ph.D., became the first American woman to fly in space.

October 1984, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., became first American woman to walk in space.

On May 4, 1989, Mary Cleave, Ph.D., and the crew of STS-30 were the first to deploy a planetary probe (Magellan) from the Space Shuttle.

Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, USAF, became the first female Space Shuttle pilot in 1991.

In September 1992, Mae Jemison, M.D., became the first African-American woman in space.

October 29-November 7, 1998, for the first time in the history of spaceflight, the launch commentator, Lisa Malone; the ascent commentator, Eileen Hawley; flight director, Linda Hamm; and CapCom (the communicator between Mission Control and the crew), Susan Still, were all women. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the flight control team for STS-95 were women.

On July 20, 1999, Air Force Col. Eileen Collins will become the first woman to command a space shuttle mission. She piloted two previous flights for NASA.