KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- At a women's forum held in the Apollo/Saturn V Center, Marta Bohn-Meyer, the first woman to pilot an SR-71, greets astronaut Yvonne Cagle. They participated in the panel discussion about "Past, Present and Future of Space," along with Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D., the first American woman to walk in space; Donna Shirley, Ph.D., the first woman leading the Mars Exploration Program; Jennifer Harris, the Mars 2001 Operations System Development Manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and astronaut Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic female in space and member of the President's commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. The forum included a welcome by Center Director Roy Bridges and remarks by Donna Shalala, secretary of Department of Health and Human Services. The attendees are planning to view the launch of STS-93 at the Banana Creek viewing site. Much attention has been generated over the launch due to Commander Eileen M. Collins, the first woman to serve as commander of a Shuttle mission. The primary payload of the five-day mission is the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which will allow scientists from around the world to study some of the most distant, powerful and dynamic objects in the universe. Liftoff is scheduled for July 20 at 12:36 a.m. EDT KSC-99pp0902
