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Sally Ride on Board Space Shuttle Challenger
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-On-Board-Space-Shuttle-Challenger.jpgBorn in 1951 in Los Angeles, Sally Ride received her doctorate in physics from Stanford in 1978. That same year, she beat out 1,000 other applicants for a spot in NASA’s astronaut training program. (NASA)
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Sally Ride and Fellow Female Astronaut Trainees in 1978
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-and-Fellow-Female-Astronaut-Trainees-in-1978.jpgAt the time, only one woman—the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova—had traveled to space. (Her countrywoman Svetlana Savitskaya would become the second in 1982.) In January 1978 NASA chose six women, including Sally Ride, as its first female astronaut candidates. (NASA)
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Sally Ride During a 1981 STS-2 Simulation
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-During-a-1981-STS-2-Simulation.jpgIn August 1979 Ride completed a one-year training program and evaluation period. Over the next few years she would serve as a ground-based on-orbit capsule communicator, or CapCom, during STS-2 and STS-3, the second and third space shuttle missions. (NASA)
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Crew of STS-7
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Crew-of-STS-7.jpgRide was soon selected to serve as a mission specialist aboard Space Shuttle Challenger during STS-7, the seventh space shuttle mission and Challenger’s second. (NASA)
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Crew of STS-7 During Training
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Crew-of-STS-7-During-Training.jpgRide would fly alongside fellow astronauts Robert Crippen, Frederick Hauck, John Fabian and Norman Thagard. The crew was the largest to fly in a single spacecraft up to that time. (NASA)
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Sally Ride on the Flight Deck During STS-7
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-on-the-Flight-Deck-During-STS-7.jpgSTS-7 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on June 18, 1983. The mission’s six-day flight would make Sally Ride the first American woman in space. (NASA)
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Sally Ride Inside Space Shuttle Challenger
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-Inside-Space-Shuttle-Challenger.jpgDuring the mission, the crew of STS-7 performed a number of important tasks, including the deployment of satellites, medical tests and experiments. Challenger returned to Earth on June 24. (NASA
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Sally Ride Takes a Photograph During STS-7
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-Takes-a-Photograph-During-STS-7.jpgSally Ride would later say of her first trip to space, “The thing that I’ll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact, I’m sure it was the most fun I’ll ever have in my life.” (MPI/Getty Images)
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Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan During STS-41G
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-and-Kathryn-Sullivan-During-STS-41G.jpgRide went on to serve as a mission specialist aboard Challenger during STS-41G, the 13th shuttle flight. Also part of the crew was fellow astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, who became the first American woman to walk in space. Ride’s third mission was canceled following the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, which she would help investigate. (NASA)
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Sally Ride in 2003
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-in-2003.jpgSally Ride went on to work at NASA headquarters and become the first director of the agency’s Office of Exploration. After retiring from NASA in 1987, she taught physics and directed the California Space Institute at the University of California. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
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Sally Ride in 2001
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-in-2001.jpgIn 2001 Ride founded Sally Ride Science, a company that encourages the study of science, math and technology among children and especially young women. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, she has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of fame. (Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
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Sally Ride in 1982
http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sally-Ride-in-1982.jpgRide died on July 23, 2012, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61. (NASA)
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