Sally Ride, first U.S. woman in space, dies at 61

(Reuters) - Sally Ride, the
first U.S. woman to travel
into space and an advocate
for science education, died
on Monday after a 17-
month battle with pancreatic cancer,
according to her
organization, Sally Ride
Science. She was 61. Ride broke new ground
for American women in
1983 when at the age of
32 she and four male
crewmates blasted off
aboard space shuttle Challenger. "The fact that I was going
to be the first American
woman to go into space
carried huge expectations
along with it," Ride recalled
in a 2008 interview on the 25th anniversary of her
flight. "I didn't really think about
it that much at the time --
but I came to appreciate
what an honor it was to be
selected," she said. U.S. President Barack
Obama called Ride "a
national hero and a
powerful role model." In a
statement, he said Ride
"inspired generations of young girls to reach for the
stars." Ride was not the first
woman in space. That
distinction fell to the Soviet
Union's Valentina
Tereshkova, who blasted
off aboard a Vostok 6 rocket on June 16, 1963. But over the years only
two other Russian women
followed Tereshkova into
orbit. By the time Ride returned
for a second flight in 1984,
not only had another
female astronaut, Judith
Resnik, flown on the
shuttle, but Ride had a female crewmate, Kathryn
Sullivan. Since then, more than 45
women from the United
States and other countries
have flown in space,
including two as shuttle
commander. "Sally Ride broke barriers
with grace and
professionalism - and
literally changed the face of
America's space program,"
NASA administrator Charles Bolden, a former
astronaut, said in a
statement. Ride grew up in Los
Angeles and attended
Stanford University, where
she earned bachelor's
degrees in physics and
English and master's and doctorate degrees in
physics. She joined NASA's
astronaut corps in 1978. She was assigned to a third
shuttle flight, but training
for the mission was cut off
after the fatal 1986
Challenger accident that
claimed the lives of six colleagues and a
schoolteacher. Ride served as a member of
the presidential commission
that investigated the
accident, and then assisted
the agency's chief with
long-range and strategic planning. She left NASA in 1987 and
joined a Stanford
University security
research institute. In 1989,
she joined the physics
department at the University of California-San
Diego and directed the
California Space Institute. Ride's interest in education
extended to younger
students, whom she
targeted with her science
education startup Sally
Ride Science in San Diego. The company creates
science programs and
publications for elementary
and middle school students
and educators. Ride also authored five
science books for children
and served on dozens of
NASA, space and
technology advisory
panels, including the board that investigated the
second fatal space shuttle
accident in 2003. Ride is survived by her
mother; her partner, Tam
O'Shaughnessy; a sister; a
niece and a nephew.