Sally Ride Space Pioneer Author:Lorraine Jean Hopping, Bank Street College of Education Astronaut Dr. Sally Ride took a deep breath and nervously waited as the powerful engines of the Space Shuttle Challenger roared to life on the morning of June 18, 1983. This was the most frightening, yet exciting moment of Sally's life! She was determined to prove that an American woman could perform in space as well as a man. Sally Ride never d... more »reamed she would be the first American woman to fly in space. Her career as an astronaut began in 1977, when she answered a newspaper ad placed by NASA, which was soliciting applications from young scientists to serve as "mission specialists" on future space flights. After a long sprocess of evaluation, Ride was accepted into the space program, which had previously focused recruiting on male military test pilots. Ride was not the firstr woman in space, however. Two Russian women cosmonauts had preceded her. But when Ride's mission was succesfully accomplished, she became one of the most respected women in the world and a symbol of hope and progress for American women. Since her historic flight in 1983, a number of other women have proven themselves on U.S. space shuttle missions. Sally Ride: First Woman Astronaut follows his trailblazer from her early days as a young athlete and scholar to her triumphant missions with NASA.« less