It was sad to hear of the passing of a personal heroine recently. Sally Ride, at the age of 61, died of pancreatic cancer. She was the first female to escape Earth’s orbit when she joined the astronaut crew of the shuttle, Challenger. After leaving NASA, she returned to private life as a scientist and physics teacher. In a horrific twist of fate, it was on the Challenger that another teacher, Christa McAuliffe, lost her life.