Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, dies

Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, died of pancreatic cancer at her home in La Jolla, Calif., at age 61. When Ride clambered aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, she also became the youngest American in space.

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The official NASA portrait of Sally Ride, taken in 1984.

Anonymous / AP

June 1983

Astronaut Sally Ride poses at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

- / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

June 18, 1983

The crew for the space shuttle Challenger's June 1983 mission leaves for boarding at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Sally Ride and Robert Crippen are in front, John Fabian in the middle and Norm Thagard and Rick Hauck in the rear.

/ AP

June 1983

Ride talks to ground controllers as Challenger orbits the Earth. She had just opened a large locker at left to monitor an experiment.

/ AP

June 1983

Ride on the flight deck during the six-day shuttle mission.

- / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

June 1983

Ride monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the shuttle Challenger.

NASA/AP

Jan. 7, 1984

Ride poses with "Sesame Street" character Grundgetta on set in New York City. Ride appeared in a segment of the children's program about the letter A -- as in astronaut.

DAVE PICKOFF / AP

June 17, 1997

President Bill Clinton prepares to sign a memorandum ordering federally run schools for Indians and military families to comply with a ban on sexual discrimination. Sally Ride, second from right, is among the guests. (The others, from left, are historian Anne Jarvis Jefferson, mental-health activist Nelba Chavez, Olympic athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee and women's program director Verelett Allen.)

RON EDMONDS / AP

Aug. 10, 1983

Tennis star Billie Jean King and Ms. Magazine editor Gloria Steinem flank Ride during a reception in the astronaut's honor. The event, held in New York, was hosted by the Girls Clubs of America and Ms. magazine.

RICHARD DREW / AP

Feb. 6, 1986

William Rogers, left, chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, swears in members of the commission at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. The members are, from left, Neil Armstrong; Ride; Robert Rummel; Maj. Gen. Donald Kutyna; Arthur B.C. Walker, Jr.; Joseph Suher; David Acheson; Richard Feynman; Albert Wheelon; and Robert Hotz.

SCOTT STEWART / AP

Feb. 11, 1986

As members of a presidential commission, former secretary of state William Rogers and Ride examine a cross section of a solid rocket booster during the investigation into the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in 1986.

Bob Daugherty / AP

Jan. 14, 2002

Ride carries the flame in San Diego during the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Torch Relay.

Todd Warshaw / GETTY IMAGES

April 25, 2002

After leaving NASA, Ride tried to encourage girls' interest in science. Here she holds a computer displaying the Web site for the girl-oriented science education program Imaginary Lines.

DENIS POROY / AP

Dec. 6, 2006

Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of California, applauds during Sally Ride's induction into the California Hall of Fame.

/ AP

July 28, 2009

Sally Ride talks during a public meeting of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee in League City, Tex. Behind her is Jeffrey Greason, a founder of XCOR Aerospace.

Brett Coomer / AP

Sept. 16, 2010

President Obama and Ride shake hands during a White House event to announce an initiative to improve science, technology, engineering and math education.

Susan Walsh / AP

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