Sally Ride was the fist woman  to explore the space. She was a graduate student in physics by the time NASA was looking for women astronauts in 1977.  Sally was the first volunteer to qualify for the work and go to outer space on a US Space Shuttle. In 1977 women were getting more rights and also they had more opportunities to get different kinds of jobs.  Sally did her first mission on the  space shuttle Challenger on June 18th,1983;  her job was to work the robotic arm.  She used the arm to help put satellites into space.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism-second-wave/a/1970s-Feminism-Timeline.htm

I think Sally Ride is symbolic of the progress women have made since the 1970s because they were gaining more influence in all areas of society.  Some people say that women still have a “glass ceiling” in the work place because they don’t get the same powerful or high paying jobs as the men but I think Sally was one of the first women to be able to shatter that glass ceiling.  It is interesting that women can look to the example of a lady astronaut when they think of reaching new heights in the professional world.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/who-was-sally-ride-k4.html

http://www.biography.com/#!/people/sally-ride-9458284