¹     "This is mission control." That is what Sally Ride said. She was an astronaut. She started out being in charge of talking to the astronauts that were in space. She stayed on the ground. Sally Ride also designed robots that helped get satellites from space. In 1983, she became the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger. Sally Ride spent more than 343 hours in space.
 
²     Sally Kristen Ride grew up in California. She was born on May 26, 1951. She loved playing tennis. She stopped going to college to become a professional tennis player. After some time, Sally decided that she wasn't quite good enough to be a pro. She then went back to college for many years. She was trying to become a doctor. Not a medical doctor, but a doctor in astrophysics. She saw an ad in the paper that NASA was looking for astronauts. Sally applied and was one of 6 women to get the job.
 
³     In 1986, Sally was getting ready to go up in space again. There was a terrible accident during a training mission. Sally was not involved. The Challenger exploded. Her mission to space was put off. Her job was to investigate the accident. She created a report about the future of space exploration.

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