#women#, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, wore a bright blue jacket with the NASA logo and mission patches to work and for public Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.appearances, including the STS-7 mission in 1983.