RIP Sally Ride

From Fox News: Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. She was 61.
Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was a private person and the details of her illness were kept to just a few people, she said.
Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32. After her flight, more than 42 other American women flew in space, NASA said.
"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism -- and literally changed the face of America's space program."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/23/america-first-female-astronaut-sally-ride-dies/#ixzz21UiXsM5U

I remember when she first went up and it was such a big deal back then and there were some people out there who thought women should not go up in space because of co-mingling  with men and women.  

So, we lost NASA, for the most part this year and now we lose a hero astronaut.  Not a good year.