Sally Ride is space in 1983. (Courtesy photo/NASA)

Sally Ride answered a lot of silly questions from reporters.

Would she wear a bra in orbit? What if she started her period while in space? How did she deal with stress on the job? “Do you weep?” she was asked.

She politely answered all of the stupid queries posed during a pre-flight news conference. Her calm demeanor was one of the main reasons she was hired to do her job. So it was an unexpected delight when, moments after reaching orbit, she blurted out an enthusiastic description of her first liftoff into space.

“That was a real E-ticket!” she radioed back to Earth, comparing her shuttle launch to a great ride at Disney World.

America’s first woman in orbit was launched aboard the space shuttle Challenger 35 years ago Monday. Ride had answered a Stanford University school newspaper ad inviting women to apply for the astronaut program. Her degrees in physics and astrophysics helped her win a coveted slot as one of NASA’s first half-dozen female space travelers. Her expertise with the shuttle’s robot arm helped punch her ticket into orbit.

The Russians had already launched female cosmonauts into space — twice. Still, on this anniversary, it’s appropriate we remember there was a time when American women were denied the opportunity to become astronauts. Ride’s mission aboard the seventh shuttle flight ended that era, inspiring a generation of girls to see themselves in the stars.

Ride’s flight has another inspirational significance that didn’t become public until long after she returned to Earth. Decades later, after pancreatic cancer claimed her life at age 61, her obituary quietly revealed that this pioneering astronaut had spent 27 years partnered with another woman. As far as we know, she was the first gay space traveler.

The accomplishment that earned Ride’s place in history is now routine. Eileen Collins, one of Ride’s fellow Stanford alumni, became the first female space shuttle commander. Ellen Ochoa, another Stanford alum who’s a veteran of four shuttle missions, just retired as the first woman director of the Johnson Space Center. Mae Jemison, inspired by Lt. Uhura on “Star Trek,” made history as the first African-American woman in space. Just a few days ago, Serena Auñon-Chancellor became the latest woman to report for duty aboard the International Space Station.

Nobody pays much attention anymore when a woman flies to the space station. That’s the way Ride would’ve wanted it.

“It’s too bad this is such a big deal,” Ride said before her first flight. “It’s too bad our society isn’t further along.”

It no longer seems like a big deal, but that’s only because Sally Ride shattered the glass ceiling into the final frontier.