Sally Kristen Ride is an American former astronaut who in 1983 became the first American woman to reach outer space. She was going to be a pro tennis player, but refused because she believed education was worth everything. One day she saw an ad in the newspaper, decided she wanted to be an astronaut and she was 1 in 1000 to be picked. She was preceded by two Soviet women, Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya . At the time, she was the youngest American to enter outer space. She was married for a time to NASA Astronaut Steve Hawley.