American astronaut and physicist.

Sally Ride joined NASA in 1978 where she was the first American woman in space (3rd woman in the world) and youngest astronaut at 32 years old. Ride flew twice on the orbiter Challenger. She got her PhD in physics at Stanford in 1978, worked at NASA until 1987 and went back to Stanford to the Center for International Security and Arms Control, then moved on to teach Physics at UC San Diego and become director of CA Space Institute. She started Sally Ride Science in 2001 to educate young women in science, and authored 6 science books for children with Tam O’Shaughnessy. With the Columbia Disaster and Challenger accident, Ride was part of the Rogers Commission to figure out what happened and she discovered that the O rings stiffening caused the explosion. Ride was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2013.