THE first American woman to travel to space, Sally Ride, is dead. She died on Monday, at the age of 61, NASA, her company said.

Ride’s 1983 flight aboard the shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission, which deployed two satellites made her the first American woman in space.

“The memories to me are as if it was yesterday,” Ride said in a NASA video marking the 25th anniversary of her flight.

She described the first glimpse of earth from space as “just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet, which very few people have the opportunity to do.”

A year later, Ride flew on a second eight-day shuttle mission, which launched the first satellite to study the effect of greenhouses gases on the earth’s atmosphere.

That was the first flight to include two women with five astronauts and was at the time the largest crew to have flown in a shuttle.

“Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism and literally changed the face of America’s space programme,” NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, said.

“The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers.”