Spacewoman (2024)

Eileen Collins literally flew through the glass ceiling to become NASA’s first female pilot and Space Shuttle commander.

Spacewoman takes us with her on four dramatic missions through revelatory archive footage – from attending an extraordinary orbital tea party with the Russian cosmonauts to sitting inside the shuttle overseeing the nail-biting spacewalk repair that will ensure that they get home. Simultaneously, we join the astronauts’ families – waiting to exhale with them – as they anxiously look through the clouds over Florida for a sign of their loved ones’ return.

Back down to earth it’s the funny, touching home movies – and acclaimed documentary maker Hannah Berryman’s intimate interviews – that ensure that this powerful film goes beyond the tropes of other space race narratives. Instead, Berryman has created a deeply moving story about the complex ways we’re all formed by our family bonds. Ines Cavill

UK, 2024. Director Hannah Berryman. From the memoir Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission by Eileen Collins and Jonathan Ward. With Eileen Collins, 95 mins. PG

Introduced by director Hannah Berryman.

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