Sally Ride (1951- 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983. Ride remains the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, having done so at the age of 32. After flying twice on the Orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987, and worked for two years at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control, and at the UC San Diego as a professor of physics. She served on the committees that investigated the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, the only... View More...
