Astronaut Sally Ride has died at age 61

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LOS ANGELES—Space used to be a man's world. Then came Sally Ride, who blazed a cosmic trail for U.S. women into orbit. 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.

Ride, the first American woman in orbit, died Monday at her home in the San Diego community of La Jolla at age 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, an illness she had for 17 months, according to her company, Sally Ride Science.

Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983, when she was 32. Since then, 42 other American women flew in space.

"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

When shuttles started flying frequently with crews of six or seven, astronauts became plentiful and anonymous. Not Ride.

"People around the world still recognize her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing NASA," Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander, said in a statement. "She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job."

When Ride first launched into space, feminist icons such as Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda were at Kennedy Space Center and many wore T-shirts alluding to the pop song with the refrain of the same name: "Ride, Sally Ride."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism -- and literally changed the face of America's space program."

"The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," he said in a statement.

Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company, which motivates youngsters to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego.

In 1978, NASA included women in the astronaut corps, selecting Ride and five other women to join the club, which had been dominated by male military test pilots. Ride beat out fellow astronaut candidates to be the first American female in space. Her first flight came two decades after the Soviets sent a woman into space. A second Soviet woman flew in space in 1982.

"On launch day, there was so much excitement and so much happening around us in crew quarters, even on the way to the launch pad," Ride recalled in a NASA interview for the 25th anniversary of her flight in 2008. "I didn't really think about it that much at the time -- but I came to appreciate what an honor it was to be selected to be the first to get a chance to go into space."
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more at: Sally Ride, first US woman in space, dies at 61 - Boston.com
 
Dang, it is about pancreatic cancer that is killing her. Nobody like cancer.

Rest in Peace, Sally Ride. You make history to be the first space woman to travel in space for all of us as women. Thank you. :(
 
Sally Ride's Partner and DOMA - NYTimes.com

What’s less well known is that Ms. Ride was gay. Family and friends were aware of her 27-year relationship with Tam O’Shaughnessy, but the wider public was not. I bring up this personal detail because, as numerous people on the Web and Twitter have pointed out, Ms. O’Shaughnessy is not entitled to any federal benefits. (She probably doesn’t need the money, but that’s beside the point.)

The Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, denies federal survivors’ benefits to same-sex couples. President Obama, who has come out in support of same-sex marriage, stopped defending the law in court after his Justice Department concluded that it was unconstitutional. But the Republican leadership in Congress has retained its own lawyers to keep pressing the legal case.
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:mad:

RIP Sally. A shame the celebration of your accomplishments is being overshadowed by this.

@Bebonang: Sally Ride wasn't the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova was, 20 years before.
 
metalangel said:
Sally Ride's Partner and DOMA - NYTimes.com

:mad:

RIP Sally. A shame the celebration of your accomplishments is being overshadowed by this.

@Bebonang: Sally Ride wasn't the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova was, 20 years before.
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What? I have never heard of Valentina Tereshkova. I have erased some of the comments I made and thought that Sally Ride was the first woman in space as still stand as the first American woman to flew into space only the year was 1983, not 1961. So Valentina Tereshkova flew into space in 1961. But I don't remember her, only Sally Ride. Well, I guess they were competing who goes up in space first. It was a race to be the first one up there. That was really silly or ridiculous that it was like winning the prize to be the first one. Geeze.

Anyway, she did a good job going up to be the first in North America. We are proud of her for making the race for being the first American woman against Valentina Tereshkova or any other women before her.
 
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I am not reading very carefully here. I guess I am tired trying to read. **smile**

You have to remember conservative always against everything when we want to have our rights. They are not looking at us as humans. They like to control us just because they are men. They think they are big headed or big shot thinking that they can tell us what to do with our life. That is why we have to fight back to them for our rights as citizens no matter how different we are. We are the way we were born with it. Everyone has a flaw, even the conservatives. The conservatives don't get it. Why do we have to put up with them like that? That is what make me mad. :mad:
 
Wirelessly posted (BB Curve 9300)

This is not a political thread. Please just honor Sally Ride's accomplishments, and mourn her passing.
 
was sally the first astrounaunt i though russian woman back in 60's was
 
caz12 said:
was sally the first astrounaunt i though russian woman back in 60's was
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Sally was the first American woman to orbit in space. Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet (Russian) cosmonaut was the first woman in space.
 
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