<p>CORRECTS TO SAY RIDE IS IN THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER, NOT COLUMBIA - FILE - In this June 1983 photo released by NASA, astronaut Sally Ride, a specialist on shuttle mission STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the shuttle Challenger flight deck. Ride, the first American woman in space, died Monday, July 23, 2012 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61. (AP Photo/NASA, File)</p>
July 24, 2012
Stories this photo appears in:
Sally Ride, 1951-2012
First U.S. woman in space dies at 61
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Space used to be a man's world. Then came Sally Ride, who blazed a cosmic trail into orbit for U.S. women. With a pitch perfect name out of a pop song refrain, she joined the select club of American space heroes the public knew by heart: Shepard, Glenn, Armstrong and Aldrin.