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mediumQ. No. 18014

Who is recognized as the first American woman to travel into space?

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When NASA announced its 1978 astronaut class, six of the thirty-five candidates were women, the first time American women had been selected for the corps. Sally Ride was among them. Ride held a doctorate in physics from Stanford University and had studied X-ray astronomy before applying. Ride became an expert on the shuttle's mechanical arm during training, and NASA trusted her with the controls. Before her own launch, Ride served as the ground radio link for two shuttle flights, relaying instructions to the orbiting crews. Ride later founded a company promoting science education for girls. Reporters at the time often asked Ride questions that they never put to her male colleagues.

ASally Ride
BChrista McAuliffe
CKalpana Chawla
DEileen Collins
Correct Answer: Sally RideYour Answer: A

Explanation

Correct answer: Option A (Sally Ride). She flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission, launched on 18 June 1983, and at 32 she was then the youngest American to have gone into space. The six-day flight let Ride operate the robotic arm to release and retrieve a satellite. Why the other options are wrong: Option B (Christa McAuliffe): The New Hampshire teacher was chosen for NASA's Teacher in Space project but died when Challenger broke apart in January 1986, before completing any flight. Option C (Kalpana Chawla): Born in Karnal, India, she flew on Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist, some fourteen years after Ride. Option D (Eileen Collins): She piloted a shuttle for the first time in 1995 and commanded one in 1999, which are later milestones. Remember: link Ride with STS-7 and 1983.

Important Notes

  • Ride later sat on the panels that investigated both the Challenger disaster of 1986 and the loss of Columbia in 2003.
  • Ride made a second flight in October 1984 on STS-41-G, sharing the crew with Kathryn Sullivan, another pioneering woman astronaut.
  • Ride died in July 2012 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.
  • The Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova had reached orbit in 1963, twenty years before an American woman flew.
  • Ride was also a keen tennis player, having been a nationally ranked junior before she turned to science.

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