spacetoday.net: Sally Ride, first American woman in space, passes away

Posted: Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 6:04 AM ET (1004 GMT)
Ride, Sally (NASA)

Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space nearly 30 years ago, died of cancer on Monday at the age of 61. Ride died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer that was not widely known until her death. Ride was part of the historic 1978 astronaut class that included the first women astronauts. On June 18, 1983, Ride became the first American woman in space as part of the crew of the STS-7 shuttle mission; she also flew on STS-41G in 1984. She later served on the commissions investigating the Columbia and Challenger shuttle accidents, as well as the Augustine Committee that examined the future of NASA's human spaceflight program in 2009. Ride founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 to support girls to pursue careers in science and engineering.