Who was the first American woman to fly on a space shuttle?

Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly on a space shuttle. She launched aboard Challenger on June 18, 1983, as a mission specialist on STS-7, becoming the first American woman in space and the third woman overall to reach space.

Ride was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1978, when the agency opened its astronaut program to women. A physicist who had earned degrees from Stanford University, she helped operate the shuttle's robotic arm during STS-7 and contributed to the deployment of communications satellites.

She flew again in 1984 on Challenger mission STS-41-G. Ride later served on the presidential commission investigating the Challenger disaster, then left NASA and became a university physics professor and prominent advocate for science education.

A frequent confusion is between Ride and other pioneering astronauts. Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and command a space shuttle, while Mae Jemison became the first African American woman in space. Kathryn Sullivan was the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.