She was the first American woman to go into outer space. But she wasn't the first woman to go into space.
The Russians got a woman in space 20 years before Sally Ride. Her name was Valentina Tereshkova.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova
NASA could have beat the Russians to this milestone, but they didn't. NASA actually recruited and trained thirteen women to go up into space in the early 1960s. They were called the Mercury Thirteen. And then, when they were all set to make history, NASA yanked the rug out from under them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
