Spacewoman Review – A Captivating Story of Life, Love, and Space Flight, A Must See

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Tuesday, 17 March 2026 12:21

Written by Janet Walker

Spacewoman, from Tigerlily Productions, brings to the screen the story of USAF Colonel  Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle on four separate missions, and break the glass ceiling of NASA prestigious astronaut program.

The documentary begins with Colonel  Eileen Collins, now retired, explaining her life, from the vantage point of history. She explains some details that are critical for everyone, and especially young girls, to hear, as a teen she was raised in an abusive home, poverty, lived in the projects in Elmira, New York, essentially on the other side of the tracks, and as she explains, she didn't excel in school, because the boys bullied the smart girls, so she didn't try.

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Her father, an alcoholic, would force them to listen to his "life-lessons" deep into the night at the kitchen table. But he also would take them out to air strip in Elmira, which then was the soaring capital of the world, as the condition were perfect for it.

Soaring is piloting an engineless craft after being pulled to a certain height by a twin engine plane. After the rope is cut, the pilot glides across the atmosphere, maneuvering the craft with a joystick, to the left or right, and then floats down to earth, which is essentially, as we find out, the same technique used to land the space shuttle.

Eileen was fixated on flying, and to hear her explain she didn't tell anyone her dreams, to become a pilot and an astronaut, and just decide to work to make it happen. The documentary folds in animation, as she explains the series of odd jobs she held to save enough money to take flying lessons.

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As a teenager, she found her passion and worked each day to become the best at it. As a teenager, in the 1960s, women even in the 1970s, had not yet been permitted to fly, and the government hadn't decided if women would actually be good pilots.

Eileen joined the Air Force, with the intent of flying jets. Soon, she cleared the first hurdle and completed the training. She was also determined to become an astronaut, and NASA would not allow anyone to command a space craft who hadn't completed test pilot training.

So, Collins tried on three separate occasions before she was accepted. The documentary also explains, test pilot training is not for the pilot, it is for the jets. Pilots in the test pilot training are pushing each and every aircraft to the edges to determine the jets strengths, abilities, and where it was best suited to fly.

Spacewoman does more than simply explain Colonel Collins' story, which is a testament to the human spirit, to determination, grit, tenacity, and bravery, but also explains the pull between the traditional, wanting a husband and family and the commitment and loyalty to a career.

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Initially, she explains she still carried some dated beliefs about patriarchy and how marriage may clip her wings, and she would not have anything to do with that and then she met her husband, Pat Youngs, a commercial pilot, and after some time, his support for her career, and recognizing the importance of it, made her realize that this could work.

Life was on two parallels; career which was escalating toward fulfilling her lifelong goals, and her home life, where she was a wife and mother.

To balance both planes, the documentary includes many archives images from NASA, including the Challenger disasters, and the "major debris" loss on Space Shuttle Discovery, the first space flight since the Columbia disaster. We see the 360 degree maneuver used and piloted by Collins to discover the heat shield damage and the repair procedure. We also see Eileen as a wife, mom, enjoying life with her two children, Bridget and Luke, and how with each mission the stress of the realities of space flight were weighing on her.

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Spacewoman also introduces Eileen's crew, and to hear their unique stories, makes one realize that greatness, in whatever path one chooses, is a daily choice, and built each day, one decision at a time.

For those who are fascinated by space travel, by the idea of galaxies, and unknown worlds, or star gazers, Spacewoman is an awe-inspiring and incredible documentary showing the epic power and force of a space shuttle launch, an historic docking with a Russian space station, and follows the dramatic tale of one of the most dangerous and important missions in the history of space travel.

Riveting and mesmerizing, Spacewoman opens in theaters March 20, 2026. It is a must see!

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 95 minutes.

Release date: March 20, 2026.

Director: Hannah Berryman.

Producer: Keith Haviland, Natasha Dack Ojumu.

Writer: Hannah Berryman.

Featuring: Colonel Eileen Collins, Bridget Youngs, Pat Youngs, Luke Youngs, Charlie Camarda, Cady Coleman, Dr. Mike Foale, Wayne Hale, Paul Hill, Marcia Dunn, Margy Conklin.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.