Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, died on Monday after a 17-month battle with cancer, her company said. She was 61.     "Sally lived her life to the fullest, with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence, passion, commitment and love. Her integrity  was  ; her spirit was immeasurable; her approach to life was fearless, " read a statement on the website of Sally Ride Science, a company she started to help teach students, particularly young women and girls, about science, math and technology.     Sally flew into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983 to become America's first woman in space. She took a second trip aboard the same shuttle one year later. The first woman in space was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who orbited the Earth 48 times in 1963. She was assigned to a third flight, but that was cancelled after the Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off in 1986, claiming the lives of seven crew members on board. Sally helped investigate that accident and later  _ of Space Shuttle Columbia, becoming the  only person to serve on the commissions investigating both accidents. In 2003, the Columbia crashed during re-entry into the atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.     "As the first American woman to travel into space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model," President Barack Obama said soon after news of her death broke. "She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars and later fought tirelessly to help them get there by advocating for a greater focus on science and math in our schools. Sally's life showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve."     As a Los Angeles native, Ride attended Stanford University, where she earned four degrees, including a doctorate in physics, according to NASA. She joined the agency as part of the class of 1978, the first to include women. Ride responded to an ad in the Stanford student newspaper and was selected from some 8,000 applicants. In Obama's speech, he stressed  _  .
the model encouragement from Sally Sally's interest in space travel young girls bright future the importance of science and math