Twitter index: first female US astronaut Sally Ride dies, Amelia Earhart honored

Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly into space, has died aged 61.

Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) and Barack Obama (@BarackObama) were among the thousands of people paying tribute to Sally Ride on the social network.

Buzz Aldrin tweeted, "So sorry to hear of the loss of my friend and fellow astronaut Sally Ride. You will always be an inspiration for women and space," while Obama said, "She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars."

Many Tweeps paid their respects to the pioneer but also voiced concern that Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's partner of 27 years, would be denied federal benefits because the couple was not legally married.

Tweets read, "Sally Ride died today, after a long battle w cancer, leaving a female partner few knew she had," "Mitt Romney paid tribute to Sally Ride, but neglected to mention her female partner of 27 years or the federal benefits she will be denied" and "Astronaut Sally Ride went to space for her country, but her country won't recognize her decades-long female partner due to #DOMA. #lgbt."

Another female pioneer, Amelia Earhart, is being honored on what would have been her 115th birthday with a Doodle on Google's front page. Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

In other Twitter news, English singer Bat For Lashes has unveiled the artwork for her forthcoming album The Haunted Man in a tweet on the social network.

The top 10 most talked about topics on Twitter on July 24 at 9:00 AM GMT are:

1. Sally Ride
2. #4WordsAfterABreakUp
3. Crazy iPhone Cases You Can Buy in New York
4. Martin Scorsese
5. #StuffYouSayWhenYouLoseIn2K
6. Amelia Earhart
7. #CJsearch
8. Bat For Lashes
9. Katrina Legarda
10. We Stand By Justin

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