Two historical anniversaries today…

…both honoring commemorative firsts for women…one 82 years ago, the other 27 years before…and both 55 years apart from one another!

June 18, 1928: Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours.

From Wiki:

Amelia Mary Earhart (born July 24, 1897; missing July 2, 1937; declared legally dead January 5, 1939 was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the world-famous Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

However, anyone familiar with Star Trek KNOWS that the mystery behind her disappearance was resolved...

Click here to read that tale. ;)




June 18, 1983: Astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.

From Wiki:

Dr. Sally Kristen Ride (born May 26, 1951) from Los Angeles, California, is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. She studied at Portola Middle School, Westlake School for Girls, Swarthmore College and Stanford University, and earned a master's degree and PhD. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983, became the first American woman, and then-youngest American, to enter space. In 1987 she left NASA to work at Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control.