Sally Ride, First American Woman In Space, Dies at 61 - The first American woman to go into space, Sally Ride, died Monday after a 17-month battle against pancreatic cancer.
Ride made history in 1983 as a crew member on the space shuttle Challenger, breaking the gender barrier for U.S. spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, but it took another 20 years for NASA to follow suit.
Word of Ride's death came in an announcement from Sally Ride Science, the educational venture she founded after leaving NASA.
President Barack Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, were "deeply saddened" by the news.
Sally Ride was born on May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles. Her mother and fathers names were Joyce and Dale Ride. Her hobbies were playing tennis, running, softball, volleyball, and stamp collecting. She attended Westlake High School in 1968 and graduated from Standford with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973. Sally also got her master of science in 1975 and doctorate degrees in physics in 1978.
In January 1978 she was selected as an astronaut for NASA. She completed a training period which made her eligible as a mission specialist for future space shuttle flights. Accompanied by Captain Robert Crippen on a mission on STS-7 which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 18, 1983.
Posts
