The Mercury 13. The astronauts who never were -- Cosmonauts. Valentina Tereshkova : first in space ; Svetlana Savitskaya : no apron for her ; Elena Kondakova : long-duration in space ; Yelena Serova : ready and waiting -- American women join the space race. Sally Ride : first American woman in space ; Judith Resnik : all she ever wanted to do ; Kathryn Sullivan : a walk into history ; Shannon Lucid : a Russian favorite ; Mae Jemison : doctor astronaut ; Ellen Ochoa : career astronaut ; Eileen Collins : space shuttle commander ; Catherine "Cady" Coleman : musical astronaut ; Pamela Melroy : piloting in space ; Peggy Whitson : space station commander ; Sunita Williams : breaking records ; Barbara Morgan : teachers in space -- World astronauts. Roberta Bondar : living a childhood dream ; Chiaki Mukai : opening doors ; Claudie André-Deshays Haigneré : French astronaut and Soyuz commander ; Yi Soyeon : first from Korea ; Kalpana Chawla : a tragic end -- Liu Yang : flying knight in space -- Samantha Cristoforetti : military pilot astronaut -- The future of spaceflight.