Photo Credit: www.txchnologist.com
Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel into space, has passed away.
Ride died on July 23, at the age of 61, due to pancreatic cancer. She had been battling the disease for 17 months.
Ride had become the first American woman to fly into space on June 18, 1983. She was part of the STS-7 crew on the Challenger. Her second shuttle mission was on October 5, 1984, also on the Challenger. That mission, STS-41G, was the first crew to include two women.
After retiring from NASA in 1987, Ride became a member of the faculty of the University of California, San Diego and the California Space Institute.
Ride is survived by her partner of 27 years Tam O’Shaughnessy, as well as her mother, sister, niece, and nephew.
