Women In Space: Female Astronauts Before And After Sally Ride (PHOTOS)

Sally Ride, who died of pancreatic cancer Monday at the age of 61, was the first American woman to fly into space. But she was far from the last. In the years since Ride blasted off aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983, 44 more American women flown in space. Two-hundred-ninety American men have made the journey.

Ride wasn't always comfortable in the spotlight. In a 2003 interview reported by the Associated Press, she called her selection as an astronaut a "huge honor," but added that, "On the other hand, it sure did complicate things. I'm the sort of person who likes to be able to just walk into the supermarket and not be recognized."

But Ride recognized how she might use her celebrity to encourage more girls and women to pursue careers, not only in space programs but also in other scientific and technical fields. She started her own company, Sally Ride Science, to do just that.

And it seems she succeeded.

Calling Ride a "national hero and a role model," President Obama said in a statement that she "inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," AP reported.

Pamela Melroy, who flew into space in 2000, 2002, and 2007, told Space.com in an email: "I knew I wanted to be an astronaut from watching the Apollo astronauts land on the moon, but Sally cemented the belief inside me that I could do it. She paved the way for women to work in space and made it so much easier for other women to follow where she led."

NASA administrator Charles Bolden said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism--and literally changed the face of America's space program."

Click below to see a gallery of all 56 women astronauts (including the two female cosmonauts who beat Ride into space):

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• Valentina Tereshkova

  Soviet Union Vostok 6 (Jun. 16, 1963) Tereshkova was the first woman in space.

• Svetlana Savitskaya

  Soviet Union Soyuz T-7/T-5 (Aug. 19, 1982) Soyuz T-12 (Jul. 17, 1984)

• Sally Ride

  United States First American woman in space. STS-7 (Jun. 18, 1983) STS-41-G (Oct. 5, 1984)

• Judith Resnik

  United States First Jewish-American in space. Resnik died in the Challenger disaster, along with Christa McAuliffe, who was to have been the first teacher in space. STS-41-D (Aug. 30, 1984) STS-51-L (Jan. 28, 1986)

• Kathryn D. Sullivan

  United States STS-41-G (Oct. 5, 1984) STS-31 (Apr. 24, 1990) STS-45 (Mar. 24, 1992)

• Anna Lee Fisher

  United States STS-51-A (Nov. 8, 1984)

• Margaret Rhea Seddon

  United States STS-51-D (Apr. 12, 1985) STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991) STS-58 (Oct. 18, 1993)

• Shannon Lucid

  United States STS-51-G (Jun. 17, 1985), STS-34 (Oct. 18, 1989) STS-43 (Aug. 2, 1991) STS-58 (Oct. 18, 1993) STS-76/79 (Mar. 22, 1996)

• Bonnie J. Dunbar

  United States STS-61-A (Oct. 30, 1985) STS-32 (Jan. 9, 1990) STS-50 (Jun. 25, 1992) STS-71 (Jun. 27, 1995) STS-89 (Jan. 22, 1998)

• Mary L. Cleave

  United States STS-61-B (Nov. 26, 1985) STS-30 (May 4, 1989)

• Ellen S. Baker

  United States STS-34 (Oct. 18, 1989) STS-50 (Jun. 25, 1992) STS-71 (Jun. 27, 1995)

• Kathryn C. Thorton

  United States STS-33 (Nov. 22, 1989) STS-49 (May 7, 1992) STS-61 (Dec. 2, 1993) STS-73 (Oct. 20, 1995)

• Marsha Ivins

  United States STS-32 (Jan. 9, 1990) STS-46 (Jul. 31, 1992) STS-62 (Mar. 4, 1994) STS-81 (Jan. 12, 1997) STS-98 (Feb. 7, 2001)

• Linda M. Godwin

  United States STS-37 (Apr. 5, 1991) STS-59 (Apr. 9, 1994) STS-76 (Mar. 22, 1996) STS-108 (Dec. 5, 2001)

• Helen Sharman

  United Kingdom First Briton in space. Soyuz TM-12/TM-11 (May 18, 1991)

• Tamara E. Jernigan

  United States STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991) STS-52 (Oct. 22, 1992) STS-67 (Mar. 2, 1995) STS-80 (Nov. 19, 1996) STS-96 (May 27, 1999)

• Millie Hughes-Fulford

  United States STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991)

• Roberta Bondar

  Canada First Canadian woman in space. STS-42 (Jan. 22, 1992)

• Jan Davis

  United States STS-47 (Sep. 12, 1992) STS-60 (Feb. 3, 1994) STS-85 (Aug. 7, 1997)

• Mae Jemison

  United States First African-American woman in space. STS-47 (Sep. 12, 1992)

• Susan J. Helms

  United States STS-54 (Jan. 13, 1993) STS-64 (Sep. 9, 1994) STS-78 (Jun. 20, 1996) STS-101 (May 19, 2000) STS-102/105 (Mar. 8, 2001)

• Ellen Ochoa

  United States First Hispanic woman in space. STS-56 (Apr. 8, 1993) STS-66 (Nov. 3, 1994) STS-96 (May 27, 1999) STS-110 (Apr. 8, 2002)

• Janice E. Voss

  United States STS-57 (Jun. 21, 1993) STS-63 (Feb. 3, 1995) STS-83 (Apr. 4, 1997) STS-94 (Jul. 1, 1997) STS-99 (Feb. 11, 2000)

• Nancy Currie

  United States STS-57 (Jun. 21, 1993) STS-70 (Jul. 13, 1995) STS-88 (Dec. 4, 1998) STS-109 (Mar. 1, 2002)

• Chiaki Mukai

  Japan First Japanese woman in space. STS-65 (Jul. 8, 1994) STS-95 (Oct. 29, 1998)

• Yelena V. Kondakova

  Russia Soyuz TM-20 (Oct. 3, 1994) STS-84 (May 15, 1997)

• Eileen Collins

  United States First female shuttle pilot and shuttle commander. STS-63 (Feb. 3, 1995) STS-84 (May 15, 1997) STS-93 (Jul. 23, 1999) STS-114 (Jul. 26, 2005)

• Wendy Lawrence

  United States STS-67 (Mar. 2, 1995) STS-86 (Sep. 25, 1997) STS-91 (Jun. 2, 1998) STS-114 (Jul. 26, 2005)

• Mary E. Weber

  United States STS-70 (Jul. 13, 1995) STS-101 (May 19, 2000)

• Catherine Coleman

  United States STS-73 (Oct. 20, 1995) STS-93 (Jul. 23, 1999) Soyuz TMA-20 (15 December 2010)

• Claudie Haigneré

  France First Frenchwoman in space. Soyuz TM-24/TM-23 (Aug. 17, 1996) Soyuz TM-33/32 (Oct. 21, 2001)

• Susan Still Kilrain

  United States STS-83 (Apr. 4, 1997) STS-94 (Jul. 1, 1997)

• Kalpana Chawla

  United States First Indian-American woman in space, died in the Columbia disaster. STS-87 (Nov. 19, 1997) STS-107 (Feb. 1, 2003)

• Kathryn P. Hire

  United States STS-90 (Apr. 17, 1998) STS-130 (Feb. 8, 2010)

• Janet L. Kavandi

  United States STS-91 (Jun. 2, 1998) STS-99 (Feb. 11, 2000) STS-104 (Jul. 12, 2001)

• Julie Payette

  Canada STS-96 (May 27, 1999) STS-127 (July 15, 2009)

• Pamela Melroy

  United States STS-92 (Oct. 11, 2000) STS-112 (Oct. 7, 2002) STS-120 (Oct. 23, 2007)

• Peggy Whitson

  United States STS-111/113 (Jun. 5, 2002) Soyuz TMA-11 (Oct. 10, 2007)

• Sandra Magnus

  United States STS-112 (Oct. 7, 2002) STS-126/119 (Nov. 14, 2008) STS-135 (July 8, 2011)

• Laurel B. Clark

  United States Died in the Columbia disaster. STS-107 (Feb. 1, 2003) <strong>Correction</strong>: A previous version of this slide said that Laurel Clark died in the Challenger disaster. Clark actually died in the Columbia disaster.

• Stephanie Wilson

  United States STS-121 (Jul. 4, 2006) STS-120 (Oct. 23, 2007) STS-131 (Apr. 5, 2010)

• Lisa Nowak

  United States STS-121 (Jul. 4, 2006)

• Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper

  United States STS-115 (Sep. 9, 2006) STS-126 (Nov. 14, 2008)

• Anousheh Ansari

  United States, Iran First female space tourist, first Iranian in space. Soyuz TMA-9/8 (Sep. 18, 2006)

• Sunita Williams

  United States STS-116/117 (Dec. 9, 2006)[2] Soyuz TMA-05M (July 15, 2012)

• Joan Higginbotham

  United States STS-116 (Dec. 9, 2006)

• Tracy Caldwell Dyson

  United States STS-118 (Aug. 8, 2007) Soyuz TMA-18 (April 2, 2010)

• Barbara Morgan

  United States STS-118 (Aug. 8, 2007)

• Yi So-yeon

  Republic of Korea First Korean in space. STS-124 (May 31, 2008)

• Karen L. Nyberg

  United States STS-124 (May 31, 2008)

• K. Megan McArthur

  United States STS-125 (May 11, 2009)

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Comments

[Articulate and Clean]

01:12 AM on 07/31/2012

Isn't that first one Hillary Clinton.......Finally the truth be known about her roots.....

[Luke Mancuso]

11:48 PM on 07/29/2012

i wanna be the first one to make love in space

[george martini]

03:53 PM on 07/28/2012

Valentina Tereshkova has got to be the hottest babe astronaut I've seen.

[magdarem]

06:27 PM on 07/28/2012

When I was growing up in Poland, we even had a song to celebrate Valentina! She was definitely our heroine!!

[george martini]

10:09 PM on 07/28/2012

I tried to make a silly joke and you made a serious comment. What is interesting is that Poland would would celebrate a Russian cosmonaut going into space.

[george martini]

12:19 PM on 07/28/2012

I don't understand why we single out people when there is always the issue of integration and non segregation. These people accomplished their mission and that is what is important, not that they were females.

[Sral Rolyat]

04:14 AM on 07/28/2012

Cool.

[Early Cuyler]

12:35 PM on 07/27/2012

Well after the first one went up, They saw they needed someone to cook, clean and wash clothes..........................

[george martini]

12:16 PM on 07/28/2012

That is so cold.

[Lechiffre]

04:48 PM on 07/25/2012

Edit that list and add the women below. They too deserve some recognition. The above list is too monochromatic .

- Sunita Pandya Krishna
-Joan Higginbotham

[deckard70]

03:40 PM on 07/25/2012

I seem to have accidentally clicked on the gallery of bad haircuts.

[george martini]

12:21 PM on 07/28/2012

Good one, but they do have to wear helmets and making a fashion statement in space is not a priority.

[FredDerf]

02:32 PM on 07/25/2012

Brains, Beauty, and Courage. You go ladies, your mothers back to the dawn of time must be proud of all of you.

[Lechiffre]

04:56 PM on 07/25/2012

Beauty ? uh.. naw , very smart ladies yep yep !!. Mae Jameson's looks good but the rest look like mormon mistresses.

[Crisdean Wulver]

02:01 PM on 07/25/2012

What about Christa McAuliffe? That's a rather glaring omission.

[Lechiffre]

04:50 PM on 07/25/2012

She didn't complete her one and only assigment ( didn't come back alive ) . That's why she is not up there.

[Crisdean Wulver]

05:30 PM on 07/25/2012

Oh, I see. Well, they should have changed the title of the article to *women astronauts*. Then they could have concluded her. No list of female astronauts would be complete without her. She sacrificed more than any of them. She gave her life. 

[george martini]

12:21 PM on 07/28/2012

quitter

[Carbon Forteetoo]

01:46 PM on 07/25/2012

I haven't seen it anywhere, but was the pancreatic cancer that Sally Ride died from, connected to her time in space?

[Crisdean Wulver]

02:04 PM on 07/25/2012

I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it. The shuttle is protected from gamma rays. I suppose it's possible that she came into contact with a carcinogen at some point, but I doubt it was during her training or flights. Pancreatic cancer is not very rare. It's also one of the worst killers. Unless it's caught very early, something like 99% of all pancreatic cancer victims die from it.

[Lechiffre]

04:53 PM on 07/25/2012

She is the second female astronaut to die in 5 months . Voss died in Feb. of "Cancer". One of them has got to have had AIDS. Too many people pass off aids as a cancer.

[woodstein76]

11:46 AM on 07/26/2012

What's your point?

[Carbon Forteetoo]

01:45 PM on 07/25/2012

Valentina Tereshkova does not look like she's in the mood for any of your nonsense!

Спешите и зажечь эту свечу!

[george martini]

12:23 PM on 07/28/2012

da

[Protocolor]

10:58 AM on 07/25/2012

I like how they showed Valentina Tereshkova in a military uniform with medals all over it. The reality is that she was also the first civilian in space. She was only given honorary military rank afterwards.

[Joyce Young]

08:14 AM on 07/25/2012

Laurel B. Clark died in the Columbia disaster, not the Challenger as you have written.

[milliemonster]

08:22 AM on 07/25/2012

I saw that as well. Kinda threw me for a bit.

[PJ Parker]

08:27 AM on 07/25/2012

Scroll up a little bit to look below the image of Sally Ride and find the link to suggest a correction. Submit your comment via the "suggest a correction" link. That will give the author a chance to correct the information.

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[MikaMorgasm]

06:57 AM on 07/25/2012

is anyone concerned that sally ride might have been illegally serving given that it was before "dont ask/dont tell"? apparently her favorite pastimes were space and eating out

[dwill123]

08:16 AM on 07/25/2012

Sally Ride was never in the military, she worked for NASA. NASA is an agency of the United States government like the Post Office.

[milliemonster]

08:19 AM on 07/25/2012

Or is it "eating out space?" I forget sometimes.