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The first American woman to travel to space, Sally Ride, died today at the age of 61. The former NASA Mission specialist was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Ride flew two missions aboard the shuttle Challenger. Her first in 1983 and a second in 1984. She also was part of the Rogers commission that investigated the cause of the explosion on the same shuttle.

She left NASA in 1987 to become a Stanford physicist. She also held a big roll in making science exciting for children.