Sally Ride, first American woman to fly in space, dies at 61
Sally Ride, who became the first American woman to fly in space
when she rode in the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, has died.
She was 61. Ride died Monday at her home in La Jolla after
battling pancreatic cancer, said her mother, Joyce Ride of
Claremont. Besides serving as an astronaut, Ride was a NASA
advisor who helped study the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
She also taught at UC San Diego and began a website,
sallyridescience.com. A Los Angeles native, Ride was a Stanford
University graduate. She was one of 35 candidates pulled from a
pool of 8,000 applicants chosen to be among the next astronauts
in the late 1970s. [Updated at 3:15 p.m.: NASA officials
released statements on Ride's death: "Sally Ride broke barriers
with grace and professionalism – and literally changed the face
of America’s space program," said NASA Administrator Charles
Bolden. "The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers
and explorers. Our thoughts and pray