Sally Kristen Ride

Ride, Sally Kristen (1951– ), U.S. astronaut and astrophysicist. In 1983, she became the first American woman in space when she made a 6-day shuttle flight on the Challenger. On this and a second shuttle flight, she used the spacecraft's remote manipulator arm, a device she helped design. After the Challenger explosion in 1986, she was appointed to the presidential commission created to conduct an investigation.