On this day in Florida history - June 18, 1983 - Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space

June 18, 1983: Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space

Photos: NASA.gov

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a member of the seventh Space Shuttle crew on June 18, 1983. Her six-day flight aboard Challenger, at age 32, was the first of her two missions.

She flew again on Challenger in 1984 and was scheduled for a third mission when Challenger blew up in January 1986. Ride was instead appointed to a presidential commission investigating the accident. She also served on the board that investigated the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

Ride was selected to become an astronaut in 1978 after she responded to an advertisement in the Stanford University student newspaper seeking applicants for the space program. She was one of 8,000 people who answered the ad. At Stanford, she earned a master's degree and Ph.D in physics.

After retiring from NASA, she led public outreach programs for the space agency and co-authored seven childrens books on space and science with her longtime partner Tam O'Shaughnessy. Ride died at age 61 on July 23, 2012, seventeen months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

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