Sally Ride - biography.

Sally Ride - biography. American astronaut Birth May 26, 1951 Place of Birth Los Angeles, California Known As The first American woman in space Career 1973 Received a B.A. in English and B.S. in physics from Stanford University 1978 Received a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University 1978 Joined the NASA astronaut program August 1979 Qualified as shuttle mission specialist June 1983 Became the first American woman in space, as mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Challenger October 1984 Served as mission specialist on the sixth Challenger mission 1986 Was appointed to the presidential committee investigating the Challenger disaster 1987 Created NASA's Office of Exploration 1987 Left NASA and became a science fellow at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control in Palo Alto, California 1989 Became head of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego Did You In high school, Ride was a nationally ranked tennis player. Know Ride coauthored three children's books: To Space and Back, Voyager, and The Third Planet. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.