Sally Ride was the first American woman to travel into space. She was an astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. She was also the youngest American to fly in space at the age of 32. Ride was a physicist and a member of the Presidential Commission that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. She was an advocate for science education and founded SALLY Ride Science, an organization dedicated to inspiring young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.