Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space. A member of the first astronaut class to include women, she broke through a quarter-century of white male fighter jocks when NASA chose her for the seventh shuttle mission. After a second flight, Ride served on the panels investigating the Challenger explosion and the Columbia disintegration that killed all aboard and later co-founded a company promoting science and education for children, especially girls.

This is her not only her life story, but what made her special says author and award winning journalist, Lynn Sherr. Sherr covered the space shuttle program for ABC News for more than five years, from the first flight in 1981 through the Challenger explosion and the investigation into what happened. She got to know Sally Ride very well, both as a subject and later as a friend, and has exclusive access to Ride's family for this book.

Sherr draws from Ride's diaries, files, and letters, friends, family, crew-mates, commanders at NASA and other pioneering women in her astronaut class.  This is a rich biography of a fascinating woman whose life intersected with revolutionary social and scientific changes in America. Sherr's revealing portrait is warm and admiring but unsparing. It makes this extraordinarily talented and bold woman, an inspiration to millions, come alive.

In addition to being about Sally Ride's heroic and trailblazing life as an astronaut, this book is a capsule history of the Space Shuttle program - in all its glory and its disappointments. For many, Sally Ride remains their hero.