Sally Ride, remembered fondly as the first American woman in space, died on Monday at the age of 61. The Wall Street Journal reports that she died after a 17-month bout with pancreatic cancer. Sally Ride Science, where Ride was president and CEO, posted a photograph of the astronaut during one of her voyages into space their website, with text above the photo reading, “Sally Kristen Ride, Ph.D. 1951 – 2012.” Founded in 2001, Sally Ride Science is an educational program created to foster children’s interested in science, technology and engineering. She is being remembered as a hero and trailblazer for women, and an idol for hundreds of little girls who aspire to be astronauts. According to NASA.com, she became the first woman in space when she launched with the crew of the Challenger on June 18, 1983. After spending time as an astronaut, she would go on to serve as a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the University of California’s California Space Institute.