Sally kristen Ride. (1951-)

First American Woman to fly in Space.

The first American woman to fly in space. Ride was chosen as an astronaut in 1978 and served as a mission specialist for the Space Shuttle flight STS-7 (1983) and as a mission specialist on STS 41 G (1984). Following theChallenger disaster she was elected as a member of the presidential commission to investigate the accident, and chaired a NASA task force (1986-87) that prepared a report on the future of the civilian space program. Ride resigned from NASA in 1987 to join the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University. In 1989 she assumed the directorship of the California Space Institute, part of the University of California at San Diego.