 In overcoming gender bias during a pre-space flight press conference, she was asked such ridiculous questions as, do you weep when things go wrong on the job, and will the flight affect your reproductive organs? Lift off of SDS-7 and America's first woman astronaut. Ride became the first American and the third woman in space aboard the Challenger in 1983. Many people attending the launch wore T-shirts that said, Ride Sally Ride.