On this day in history, June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space

Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on this day in history, June 18, 1983. 

Born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, Ride earned bachelor's degrees in English and physics from Stanford University in California before staying at Stanford and earning a PhD in physics in 1978. 

Shortly before earning her doctorate, Ride saw an ad for a newspaper that piqued her interest.

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NASA was recruiting for astronauts — and, for the first time, the agency would include women in its astronaut class.

"Over 8,000 men and women applied to the space program that year. Of the 35 individuals accepted, six were women, and I was one of them. This was in January 1978," said Ride in quotes listed on a tribute page on NASA's website. 

The crew of STS-7, which included Sally Ride. She was the first American woman to go to space.  (Getty Images)

The following year, Ride completed a one-year training and evaluation period. She would be assigned as a mission specialist on a future space shuttle mission. 

Along with three of her astronaut classmates, Ride was eventually assigned to STS-7, said NASA's website. 

STS-7, which took off on June 18, 1983, from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, lasted six days on the Space Shuttle Challenger. 

The mission involved deploying communications satellites, said NASA. 

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Ride's job on the shuttle was to work the robotic arm to put the satellites in space. 

While Ride was the first American woman in space, she was actually the third overall woman to embark on a spaceflight. 

The first woman in space, Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, flew into space on June 16, 1963, spending two days in orbit on Vostok 6. 

While Ride was the first American woman in space, she was actually the third overall woman to embark on a spaceflight. 

At just 26 years old at that time, Tereshkova, a Russian, is still to date the youngest woman in space, said the European Space Agency.

The second woman in space was also a Russian — Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya, who flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982.

Astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, on board Space Shuttle Challenger during STS-7 in 1983. (Getty Images)

Ride would return to space for her second and final spaceflight on STS-41-G in 1984. 

On that mission, again on the Space Shuttle Challenger, Ride spent eight days in space. 

She was assigned to a third spaceflight.

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That mission did not happen, however, due to the Challenger disaster in 1986. 

Instead, Ride took a role with the Rogers Commission, investigating what caused Space Shuttle Challenger to explode, said NASA. 

"It looked like someone had taken a blue pencil and outlined the Earth."

Her time in space was deeply impactful. 

"I remember floating over to the window for the first time, looking toward the horizon and seeing a very, very thin royal-blue line all the way across the horizon," said Ride. 

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"It looked like someone had taken a blue pencil and outlined the Earth. Then I realized that the blue line was Earth's atmosphere," she said, according to comments by her that are included on NASA's website. 

"It was memorable because it was obvious then how fragile and delicate our atmosphere is — there just isn't very much of it — but it sure is important!"

Astronaut Sally Ride said that her favorite part of being in space was the feeling of weightlessness. (Getty Images)

Ride said that her favorite thing about spaceflight was the feeling of weightlessness. 

"There's really nothing like it on Earth," she said. 

She also had quite a bit of fun with it. 

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"When we first reached orbit, I did what lots of astronauts do: While I was still strapped in my seat, I held my pencil in front of my face and let go of it. It floated," said Ride. 

"Once I got used to weightlessness, I could do 30 somersaults in a row and slither like a seal from one side of the cabin to the other with just a gentle push."

After her retirement from NASA, Ride became a college professor and advocate for women in science. (Getty Images)

Ride retired from NASA in 1987, and took a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego. 

There, she also served as the director of the University of California's California Space Institute.

In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science, an organization dedicated to encouraging girls to enter STEM fields, noted NASA. 

"There are girls involved in science because of Sally Ride."

Two years later, in 2003, Ride was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. 

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"There are girls involved in science firmly because of Sally Ride," said author and broadcaster Lynn Sherr in an interview shortly after the 2014 publication of her biography of the astronaut, "Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space."

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Ride died on July 23, 2012, at age 61, about a year after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to news reports at the time of her death. 

"Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism – and literally changed the face of America's space program," said former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, in comments posted on NASA's website. 

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Ride logged a total of 343 hours in space during her two space flights. 

One of Ride's last legacies was allowing middle school students to take their own pictures of the moon using cameras aboard NASA's twin Grail spacecraft in a project spearheaded by her company, according to the Associated Press.