+ NASA Home + Ames Home + Sitemap + Staff Directory +Home COLUMBIA SUPERCOMPUTER + Scientific Projects + News 2005 NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS 01.25.04 - Former Astronaut Sally Ride Visits NAS Facility Dr. Sally Ride toured the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Facility to see Columbia, the world's largest operational supercomputer. The 10,240-processor SGI system is named after the Space Shuttle Columbia, aboard which Ride served as communications officer during the shuttle's second and third flights (November 1981 and March 1982 respectively). During her visit, Dr. Ride met with NAS Division Chief, Dr. Walt Brooks to discuss important work being done using Columbia in support of the space shuttle's return to flight, currently scheduled for May. In addition, Ride and Brooks talked about the possibility of arranging tours of Columbia for her summer program students, and the eventual development of summer positions for promising students to pursue research projects on Columbia. Ride was visiting NASA Ames to speak at a Director's Colloquium on "Encouraging Girls and Women in Science and Engineering." Among her outstanding accomplishments, Dr. Ride was the first American woman in space, flying on the shuttle Challenger (STS-7) in 1983. Her second flight was an eight-day mission in 1984 on Challenger (STS-41-G). With more than 343 hours of space flight under her belt, Dr. Ride is an inspiration to many girls and young women interested in pursuing careers in science, math, and technology. NEWS ARCHIVE Visit our News Archive. + 2007 + 2006 + 2005 + 2004 + 2003 Visit Ames News Archive. + View more news Visit NASA News Archive. + View more news + Feedback + Site Help + NASA Privacy Statement, Disclaimer, and Accessibility Certification Editor: Jill Dunbar Webmaster: Ryan Spaulding NASA Official: Rupak Biswas + Contact NAS Last Updated: August 2, 2007