Sally Ride, First American Woman to Fly in Space, June 18, 1983

Thirty years ago today, Sally Ride began her historic space flight in the Shuttle Challenger
when it launched on mission STS-7. NASA describes her as one of their three
mission specialists. She helped the crew deploy communications satellites,
conduct experiments and make use of the first Shuttle Pallet Satellite.

Photo Credit: NASA

Here in this special photograph, Dr. Ride sits in the aft flight deck
mission specialist’s seat during deorbit preparations.