She blasted off aboard Challenger, culminating a long journey that started in 1977 when the Ph.D candidate answered an ad seeking astronauts for NASA missions.

Ride died today in La Jolla, Calif. after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, her company said on its website.

She was 61."

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Sally Ride, First American Woman In Space, Is Dead : NPR
Ride was a Ph.D candidate at Stanford when she answered an ad to become a NASA astronaut. She became the first American woman in space when she blasted off in the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

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