Sally Ride, the first US woman in space

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012)was an American Physicist and a former NASA Astronaut who joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman, and the first lesbian to enter Space.

On her first mission at age 32 she was the youngest American to enter space.

On June 18, 1983, she became the first American woman in space as a crew member on Space Shuttle Challenger for STS -7 during which the five-person crew deployed two communications satellites and conducted pharmaceutical experiments,Sally Ride was the first woman to use the robot arm in space and the first to use the arm to retrieve a satellite.

( preceded by 2 Soviet women,Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.)

Sally Ride's second space flight was in 1984, also on board the Challenger. She spent a total of more than 343 hours in space.

Time in space 14days 07hours 46minutes

Sally Ride died on July 23, 2012, after a 17-month battle with Pancreatic Cancer.