{"id":46552,"date":"2023-06-18T07:35:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T07:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=119456"},"modified":"2023-06-18T08:32:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T08:32:32","slug":"40-years-ago-today-sally-ride-became-the-first-american-woman-in-space","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/40-years-ago-today-sally-ride-became-the-first-american-woman-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"40 years ago today, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astronaut Sally Ride shattered the glass ceiling when she launched on board Space Shuttle mission STS-7. <\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 18 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

In 1959, William Randolph Lovelace, the physician in charge of determining who was physically suited to spaceflight, had been curious about how the female body would respond to his tests.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d secretly called in several women, 13 of whom passed the first stages.<\/p>\n

He went public with the results, hoping to garner support for further tests, which would require access to military facilities.<\/p>\n

Instead, many at NASA, including several of the male astronauts, pushed back against the idea.<\/p>\n

12 women astronauts who changed spaceflight forever<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul> $\""Sally\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>