Ride was born in Encino, (southern) California, USA. When she was in her twenties and she was working towards a Ph.D. in astrophysics at Stanford _______________________, Ride applied to be an _______________________ at _______________________. She was accepted in 1977, and began NASA's extensive _______________________, which included parachuting, gravity and weightlessness training, water survival training, radio communications, and _______________________.

Before traveling in space, Dr. Ride worked as the capsule communicatory (CAPCOM) officer for the second and third flights of the space shuttle Columbia (in November 1981 and March 1982). Her Earthbound job was to relay _______________________ messages from the shuttle _______________________ to mission control.

On June 18, __________, Ride became the _______________________ American woman to travel in space. She flew aboard the shuttle Challenger (STS-7). Her second (and last) space flight was the eight-day Challenger (STS 41-G) mission (in October, 1984). Both missions were commanded by Captain Robert Crippen.

Ride was training for a third mission when the space shuttle Challenger _______________________ in 1986. Ride's mission was cancelled, and Ride was appointed to the Presidential Commission that investigated the _______________________ of the accident.

Ride retired from the space program in 1987. She became a _______________________ of physics at University of California, San Diego.