美国首位女航天员莱德周一去世

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died Monday. She was 61 years old and had been suffering from pancreatic cancer.

美国首位女航天员莱德(Sally Ride)周一因胰腺癌去世，终年61岁。

Her death was announced by Sally Ride Science, a science-education company she founded to motivate children to pursue careers in science and technology.

莱德创立的科学教育公司Sally Ride Science宣布了她的死讯。该公司的宗旨是激励青少年投身科学技术事业。

Ms. Ride first blasted into space on June 18, 1983, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, at age 32. The mission came two decades after the Soviet Union sent a woman into space.

NASA/Associated Press983年6月，航天飞机飞行仓内的莱德正在密切注视控制面板。1983年6月18日，32岁的莱德乘坐“挑战者号”航天飞机第一次进入太空。这次航天之旅比前苏联将首位女性送入太空晚了20年。

A year later, Ms. Ride flew on the Challenger a second time. After Ms. Ride, 42 more American women have flown in space, a NASA spokesman said.

一年后，莱德第二次搭乘“挑战者号”。美国国家航空航天管理局(NASA)的发言人说，莱德之后，又有42名美国女性进入太空。

'Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model,' President Barack Obama said in a statement.

美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)在声明中说，她是美国的英雄，是伟大的榜样。

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that Ms. Ride 'broke barriers with grace and professionalism─and literally changed the face of America's space program.'

NASA局长博尔登(Charles Bolden)说，莱德的翩翩风度与专业素养破除了重重障碍，可以说她的出现改变了美国航天计划的面貌。

A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Ride earned a Ph.D. in physics before joining NASA in 1978. She was among the first six women to be trained by NASA as astronauts, and along with the 29 men trained that year, the class was known as the 'Thirty-Five New Guys.'

莱德是美国洛杉矶人，1978年加入NASA之前获得了物理学博士学位。她是美国第一批接受NASA航天员培训的六名女性之一。同年接受培训的还有29名男性，这个班上的学员被称为“35位新人”(Thirty-Five New Guys)。