Sally was the first American woman in space and the youngest at age 32. She flew two space shuttle flights. Her expertise was the robotic arm which placed satellites into space.

Born in Los Angeles in 1951, her first love was tennis and she played on the junior circuit for several years. For college she attended Stanford University obtaining a Bachelors in English, Science, and Physics. Later she completed a Masters and Ph.D. in Physics.

When she applied to NASA she was one of 8000 applicants with 35 chosen and only 6 being female. After leaving NASA she taught and worked with the University of California always promoting science education for young females.

She died of pancreatic cancer at age 61 in 2012 and will always be remembered as an American woman who went where none had gone before.