Sally Ride was an inspiration to all those whose dreams lie beyond the frontiers of human experience.
Ride, 61, lost her battle with pancreatic cancer Monday, but her legacy — as a physicist, professor, entrepreneur and, of course, the first US woman in space — will serve as a model well into the future.
Ride flew two missions on the shuttle Challenger in 1983 and 1984 and played a key role on panels probing the Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003) tragedies.
After retiring, she used her celebrity to encourage young women to pursue careers in science and technology — in 2001 founding a science-education company, “Sally Ride Science.”
Undoubtedly, Ride’s legacy as a space pioneer and science advocate will motivate generations of American women to reach — as she did literally — for the stars.
RIP.