Ride was born on May 26, 1951. She was born in the neighborhood of Encino in Los Angeles, California. She earned a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. She joined NASA in 1978. She was an astronaut until 1987. In order to be an astronaut and go into space, Sally Ride had to train for a year. Training included adapting to gravity, water survival, radio communications, and navigation. She went on the Space Shuttle Challenger in June 1983. This trip was the first time an American woman was in space. She helped design the robot arm for the space shuttle. The robot arm lifts heavy objects in space. Ride was the first person to use the robot arm in space. The robot arm put a satellite in space that showed how the sun affected weather. Ride flew to space twice.