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Story highlights. 1  Sally Ride earned four degrees from Stanford University; she was an author. 2  President Barack Obama hails Ride as a national hero. 3  The former astronaut dies after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer; she was 61. 4  NASA: Ride broke barriers ... and literally changed the face of America's space program.
This will be so not only because women do not excel at space science or the physical demands of space travel as men do but also because, as Rideâs obituary proved, she did not lead a full life. Ride was in a lesbian relationship with a childhood friend for 27 years.