It has been 40 years since Sally Ride became the first woman from the United States to travel into outer space. June 18 marks the anniversary of Ride맥스카지노�s ceiling-shattering, six-day mission on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.Video above: Astronaut Sally Ride to be featured on a U.S. quarterThe U.S. space program was in operation for more than two decades before a female astronaut claimed a seat on a NASA rocket. During the space agency맥스카지노�s earliest years, officials deemed spaceflight a feat only suitable for men, and specifically, military test pilots.Ride was also posthumously the first acknowledged gay person to become an astronaut.She was not open about her personal life, according to former NASA astronaut Steve Hawley, who was married to Ride from 1982 to 1987. However, the educational company she cofounded, Sally Ride Science, revealed more of her personal life in her 2012 obituary, recognizing her longtime partner, Tam O맥스카지노�Shaughnessy, after Ride died of pancreatic cancer.But since women were first introduced to the U.S. astronaut corps, NASA hasn맥스카지노�t looked back.The U.S. space program currently has its most racially and gender-diverse astronaut roster in its history, although an audit by NASA맥스카지노�s Office of Inspector General found a decade-long strategy has not made a meaningful impact on its diversity statistics across the agency맥스카지노�s workforce and leadership. Still, earlier this year, astronaut Christina Koch was selected to become the first woman, along with astronaut Victor Glover, the first Black man, aiming to travel to the moon as crew members of the Artemis II mission.Ride burst onto the scene in the 1970s with her scholarly acumen, an insatiable desire to follow her interests and a demand to be treated equally despite the societal constraints that were only beginning to loosen at the time, remembers journalist Lynn Sherr, who is Ride맥스카지노�s biographer.맥스카지노�Keep in mind 맥스카지노� Sally was born in 1951. That was a time when outer space was science fiction, and women맥스카지노�s rights were almost nonexistent,맥스카지노� Sherr told CNN.She remembers the bond she shared with Ride quickly deepened as a result of their shared understanding of the challenges navigating a man맥스카지노�s world as a woman: Ride in the astronaut corps and, before that, the field of physics, and Sherr in the largely gender-segregated field of journalism.맥스카지노�She just got it,맥스카지노� Sherr said of Ride맥스카지노�s ability to navigate gender issues. 맥스카지노�She knew how to be smart, brave, cool, work her ass off, get her job done 맥스카지노� and do it really well.맥스카지노�Sherr맥스카지노�s book 맥스카지노�Sally Ride: America맥스카지노�s First Woman in Space맥스카지노� was first published in 2014. It offers an intimate and holistic account of Ride맥스카지노�s life. Her story is sometimes told from the perspective of Sherr, who covered space at ABC News during Ride맥스카지노�s historic moments and became her close confidant, even sharing family vacations.The biography recounts fascinating anecdotes 맥스카지노� including the time Ride played in a mixed-doubles tennis exhibition match opposite pro legend Billie Jean King while the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.맥스카지노�s sons served as ball boys. And then there was the instance when Ride traveled to Edwards Air Force Base in California to watch an early space shuttle test flight alongside King Charles III, then Prince of Wales.Sherr also included the now-infamous story in which Ride remembers NASA engineers asking her how many tampons she would need in a weeklong flight to space. (맥스카지노�They asked, 맥스카지노�Is one hundred the right number?맥스카지노�맥스카지노� Ride said, according to the book.)CNN conducted a brief interview with Sherr in honor of the 40th anniversary of Ride맥스카지노�s first spaceflight.Breaking down barriersOne of the few women among hordes of male doctoral students of physics at Stanford University, Ride didn맥스카지노�t seriously consider a job as an astronaut until she spotted an article in The Stanford Daily about NASA recruiting women in 1977, Sherr recounted in her book.Ride got her role as an astronaut candidate after initially mailing in an application 맥스카지노� one of more than 8,000 people that did so. Of those, only 1,251 women were considered qualified by NASA.맥스카지노�There were no female role models,맥스카지노� Sherr said.The Soviet Union sent the first woman to space. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched into orbit in 1963. It would be two decades before the next woman would fly into space 맥스카지노� another Soviet cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, in 1982. Ride맥스카지노�s first flight followed a year later.Before NASA맥스카지노�s decision to allow female astronauts, in the 1960s there was pushback to the idea of women in the astronaut corps. Sherr맥스카지노�s book includes a copy of a letter about women맥스카지노�s involvement in spaceflight across which then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson had scrawled, 맥스카지노�Let맥스카지노�s stop this now!맥스카지노�But those barriers couldn맥스카지노�t last forever.맥스카지노�When we finally realized we could do it, we could do anything,맥스카지노� Sherr said, referring to women. 맥스카지노�That맥스카지노�s when we started kicking in the doors and getting to where we wanted to be.맥스카지노�Keeping her private life secretRide was perhaps the most famous person in the country after her inaugural mission to space, but Sherr said the limelight weighed on her. Despite their closeness, Ride also hid her sexuality and even her cancer diagnosis from Sherr.맥스카지노�Her mother knew she was an introvert. She didn맥스카지노�t want to share her personal life with the world,맥스카지노� Sherr said. 맥스카지노�She wasn맥스카지노�t someone that wanted to say, 맥스카지노�Look at me, look at what I맥스카지노�m doing!맥스카지노� She wanted to do it, maybe get credit for it, and then she wanted to go off and do her own thing.맥스카지노�Sherr only found out that Ride맥스카지노�s partner had been O맥스카지노�Shaughnessy, a fellow scientist and former tennis pro who was with her for 27 years, when Ride passed away.맥스카지노�I believe 맥스카지노� and I맥스카지노�m pretty sure this is right 맥스카지노� that she did it partly to protect NASA,맥스카지노� Sherr said of why Ride kept her sexuality private. 맥스카지노�She thought there were more important things to talk about.맥스카지노�Sherr remains friends with Ride맥스카지노�s partner, O맥스카지노�Shaughnessy, who in 2001 cofounded Sally Ride Science, which is now a nonprofit operated by the University of California, San Diego. The organization encourages women맥스카지노�s involvement in STEM and hosts panels each year, which Sherr has moderated.A trailblazer맥스카지노�s legacyRide맥스카지노�s ambition and love of knowledge extended far beyond her role as an astronaut, Sherr noted.Ride was a professor of physics at UC San Diego and gave lectures for a course she called 맥스카지노�Physics for Poets.맥스카지노� (She had double-majored in English and physics.) She co-wrote children맥스카지노�s books with O맥스카지노�Shaughnessy. She served on the presidential commissions that investigated both space shuttle disasters 맥스카지노� Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. She was also a noted environmentalist.맥스카지노�Human exploration was not her first priority,맥스카지노� Sherr said. 맥스카지노�It was taking care of planet Earth. And this was in the 1980s and 맥스카지노�90s 맥스카지노� she was way ahead of her time.맥스카지노�Ride broke through perhaps the toughest barrier for women in spaceflight, but Sherr said there맥스카지노�s a need to acknowledge and honor each additional pioneering step: Eileen Collins, the first female mission commander of a U.S. spacecraft; the first all-female spacewalk by NASA맥스카지노�s Koch and Jessica Meir, and 맥스카지노� soon 맥스카지노� Koch맥스카지노�s upcoming mission as the first woman to travel to the moon.Still, despite the fact that 652 people have traveled to space, according to NASA spokesperson Rob Navias, fewer than 100 have been women. And only around 1 in 5 space industry workers are women, according to the United Nations.맥스카지노�Do I believe Sally would have thought right now we맥스카지노�d be further along than we are? Yes,맥스카지노� Sherr said. 맥스카지노�We have to keep doing it. We can맥스카지노�t have any backsliding.맥스카지노�