America's first female astronaut dies, aged 61

Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel into space, has died aged 61 following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ride broke new ground for American women in 1983 when - at the age of 32 - she and four crewmates blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger. She returned to space for a second mission a year later.

Ride recalled in a 2008 interview on the 25th anniversary of her flight.

"I didn't really think about it that much at the time - but I came to appreciate what an honour it was to be selected," she said.

Ride grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University, where she earned degrees in physics and English. She joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1978.

She was assigned to a third shuttle flight, but training for the mission was cut off after the fatal 1986 Challenger accident that claimed the lives of six colleagues and a schoolteacher. Ride served as a member of the presidential commission that investigated the accident, then assisted the agency as an administrator with long-range and strategic planning.

She left NASA in 1989 and joined Stanford as a professor. Ride's interest in education extended to younger students, particularly women whom she targeted with her science education startup Sally Ride Science in San Diego.The company creates science programmes and publications for elementary and middle school students and educators.

Following news of Ms Ride's death, tributes have been posted on Twitter:

Ride also authored five science books for children and served on dozens of NASA, space and technology advisory panels, including the board that investigated the second fatal space shuttle accident in 2003.Ride, who was also a science writer, is survived by her mother, her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, a sister, a niece and a nephew.