After two space shuttle flights in the 1980s, astronaut Sally Ride spent much of the rest of her life trying to encourage children, particularly girls, to give the sciences a shot.
Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, died Monday after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, her company said. She was 61.
Candy Torres drove nonstop for 21 hours to see the launch of space shuttle Challenger in June 1983. She had seen shuttle launches before, but this trip from Princeton, New Jersey, to Cape Canaveral, Florida, was different: Sally Ride was about to become the first female U.S. astronaut to leave the Earth's atmosphere.
The president announced a new education initiative to make U.S. schoolchildren leaders in math and science.
President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a new initiative led by the top executives of major U.S. corporations that seeks to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|