Sally Ride

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman in space. She was the third woman in space overall, after USSR cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982). Ride remained the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, having done so at the age of 32, until 2021 when Hayley Arceneaux flew on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission at the age of 29. After flying twice on the Orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987. (Wikipedia)