Celebrating 25th Anniversary 'Ride' of First Female Astronaut

Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Sally K. Ride became America's first female astronaut in space when she flew aboard the National Aeronautical and Space Administration's (NASA's) Challenger Space Shuttle as a mission specialist June 18-24, 1983.

Mission Specialist Sally Ride became the first woman astronaut to fly in space 25 years ago this summer . Photo Courtesy of NASA.

Nine years later, in late July 1999, Air Force Col. Eileen Collins became the first woman to command an American space flight, the Space Shuttle Columbia's 26th mission (STS-93). The second woman shuttle commander, USAF Col. Pamela Ann Melroy, was profiled by the Women's Memorial in the July 2006 e-Register newsletter; read her profile on the Women's Memorial Web site.)

Since 1983, 41 different women have flown as astronauts or payload or mission specialists on NASA spacecraft. They are not the only women to pass the rigors of astronaut training, however. In the early 1960s, 19 women pilots tested, and 13 passed, astronaut examinations in the short-lived, privately-funded Lovelace Woman in Space Program, which was designed to show that American women were as ready as their Russian counterparts to fly in space. For more information, visit the NASA Web site.

(July 2008)