Sally Ride: 26th May

 Sally Ride (born 1951) was an astronaut and physicist, and made history as the first American woman in space and the third woman. Ride's passion for science and exploration led her to pursue a career in physics. She earned degrees in both physics and English from Stanford University, followed by a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford in 1978.

Ride joined NASA in 1978 as part of the first cohort of female astronauts, known as the "NASA 8." On June 18, 1983, she made history when she flew aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-7, becoming the first American woman and the youngest astronaut at the time to travel to space. Ride's pioneering journey shattered gender barriers in space exploration and inspired countless women to pursue careers in STEM fields.

In 1968 Ride was appointed to the Rogers Commission, the presidential commission investigating the disaster, and headed its subcommittee on operations. She was the only Space Shuttle astronaut and the only current NASA employee on the commission.

Ride made significant contributions to science education and advocacy. She co-founded Sally Ride Science, an organization dedicated to promoting STEM literacy and inspiring young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and engineering.

1989, Ride became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and director of the California Space Institute (Cal Space), part of the university's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. From the mid-1990s until her death, Ride led two public-outreach programs for NASA—the ISS EarthKAM and GRAIL MoonKAM projects, in cooperation with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UCSD.

Ride died on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61, from pancreatic cancer, at her home in La Jolla.