Sally Ride was flight engineer on Challenger's seventh mission to space

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America's first woman in space has returned safely to Earth in the Challenger space shuttle after a successful six-day flight.

Sally Ride, aged 32, captured the media's attention over the weeks leading up to blast-off on 19 June as the public realised history was in the making.

Ms Ride, a former tennis champion, decided to become an astronaut in 1977 after she saw a Nasa advertisement in the campus newsletter while studying English and physics.

She was one of more than 1,000 women and almost 7,000 men to apply for just 35 places on the 1978 training programme and it was there that she met her husband, fellow astronaut Steve Hawley.

Before blast-off last week, flight commander Robert Crippen said she had been chosen to fly purely on her skills and not for her gender.

As flight engineer, Ms Ride's main tasks were to monitor the controls and make sure nothing went wrong on ascent and descent.

Up in space she also had to control a 50ftretractablearm - which she helped to design - to retrieve a satellite package of experiments.

It was the first time a satellite had been grabbed from space and paves the way for repairing satellites in orbit.

"She is flying with us because she is the very best person for the job. There is no man I would rather have in her place," he said.

This was also the first time the shuttle carried five crew members, instead of the usual three. Along with Sally Ride and Robert Crippen were Rick Hauck, John Fabian and Dr Norman Thagood.

Ms Ride is the third woman to travel into space.

Today she received a telegram congratulating her achievement from the world's first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova.

America's first female in space would have received a much larger public welcome today had it not been for poor visibility that forced Challenger to change its point of arrival.

Challenger was due to complete its seventh mission at Cape Canaveral, in Florida, for the first time in its history. But cloud cover meant a change of plan and a landing at Edwards Air Force base in California, some 3,000 miles away.

Nasa had hoped for a Florida landing to reduce the expense and time taken to transport the shuttle back to Cape Canaveral for its next mission.

His resignation was accepted with regret

He said he wanted to halt the tide of damaging leaks and allegations about his association with Mr Nadir, who fled to Cyprus rather than face fraud charges in the UK connected with the collapse of Polly Peck, the star London stock market performer of the 1980s.

The resignation was prompted by a newspaper's publication of a letter written by Mr Mates to the attorney general, in which he complains about the way in which the case of Mr Nadir - a major Tory donor - has been handled.

'Not a hanging offence'

Prime Minister John Major, speaking in the Commons, said he had accepted his minister's resignation "with regret".

Mr Mates' troubles began in late May, when it emerged he had given a watch to Mr Nadir bearing the inscription, "Don't let the buggers get you down".

Mr Major played down the significance of the watch, and said it was "not a hanging offence".

But subsequent newspaper reports linked Mr Mates with a PR man of Mr Nadir's, and it was revealed the minister had borrowed a car from one of the fugitive's advisers.

Only two days ago Mr Mates was vowing defiantly to stay in his post, claiming he had the confidence of the prime minister.

But the publication of his correspondence with the attorney general seems to end his hopes for political survival.

In his letter of resignation, Mr Mates wrote: "The daily leaking of letters and so-called quotes from unknown sources - most of them wildly inaccurate - is causing such cumulative damage... that I must do what I can to bring it to an end. I therefore wish to go."

It is understood Conservativebackbenchershad become restless at the way the embattled minister was becoming a distraction from the work of government, and many were pleased at his decision to step down.

retractable:capable of being retracted; retractile（可收回的）

fugitive:running away or fleeing（逃亡的）

backbencher:（英国下院的后座议员）