The first American woman in space, having flown on two space shuttle missions, Dr. Sally Ride died of pancreatic cancer yesterday at age 61. After a productive career at NASA—which continued after her formal retirement when she sat on two panels investigating the Challenger explosion—she became an academic at Stanford and then the University of California at San Diego. She ultimately founded an organization, Sally Ride Science, to foster young children’s interest in science.

Although she flew not that long ago—1983 and 1984—she still faced the formidable problems of endemic sexism. In her obituary today, The New York Times reports this:

By the time she began studying laser physics at Stanford, women had already broken through into the physics department, once a boys’ club. And when she applied to the space program, NASA had already made a commitment to admit women. But there were still rough spots. Speaking to reporters before the first shuttle flight, Dr. Ride — chosen in part because she was known for keeping her cool under stress — politely endured a barrage of questions focused on her sex: Would spaceflight affect her reproductive organs? Did she plan to have children? Would she wear a bra or makeup in space? Did she cry on the job? How would she deal with menstruation in space? The CBS News reporter Diane Sawyer asked her to demonstrate a newly installed privacy curtain around the shuttle’s toilet. On “The Tonight Show,” Johnny Carson joked that the shuttle flight would be delayed because Dr. Ride had to find a purse to match her shoes.

Can you imagine a male astronaut being asked whether he planned to have children or whether his flight might affect his genitals? I hope in the last thirty years we’ve gone beyond that.