Co-sponsored by Imaginary Lines Inc., a new company founded by Ride, the weekend programs enable girls aged seven to 11 to explore the past, present and future of human space flight with a parent, relative or close family friend.

Together, they build and launch their own model rockets. They train like real astronauts in simulators patterned after those used by NASA. And they complete mock space shuttle missions in Space Camp's full-scale orbiter and Mission Control rooms.

The three-day adventures truly are aimed at more than just fun. The idea is to foster an interest in science, engineering and high technology -- career fields that talented girls tend to shy away from.

Consider the following:

A study done in 2000 by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that the number of girls and boys who like math and science in the fourth grade is about the same. But by eighth grade, twice as many boys as girls show an interest in these subjects.

In high school, 70 percent of second year physics students are male, according to a 2000 report done by the Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology Development.

Little wonder then that only nine percent of the nation's engineers, and only 20 percent of information technology professionals in America, are women.

Women in fact make up only 19 percent of the nation's science, engineering and technology workforce, the congressional commission found.

The disproportionately low number of women in technical fields can be traced in part to a lack of equal opportunity for women in the workforce. But public perception and social attitudes also are problems.

Parents are more likely to give boys toys related to math and science, the congressional commission found, and media images of female scientists and engineers are rare.

Children's science shows feature three times as many young male as female characters, and twice as many adult male scientists as female scientists, the commission found. And most of the female characters have secondary roles such as lab assistants or students.

Exacerbating the problem is the public image of scientists and engineers as socially inept, male nerds. That, the commission said, discourages girls from considering scientific fields as viable career paths.

And then there's also this fact from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century: Girls in the sixth and seventh grade rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as competent and independent.

Enter Imaginary Lines, a company based in San Diego, California.

Its mission: "To support and sustain girls' natural interests in science and technology, and to catalyze a change in cultural perceptions of girls and women in these endeavors."

The firm believes that as many girls as boys have natural interests and abilities in science math and technology, and that society does not yet have equal expectations for, or offer equal support to, girls interested in technical fields.

"One of our goals is to make girls feel like they belong to the scientific community and help them connect to this community and stay involved," Ride said.

After all, eight of the 10 fastest-growing occupations in America are related to science, math or technology, and jobs requiring skills in those areas are expected to jump by 5.6 million by 2008.

What's more, the national math-and-science teaching study found that colleges already need to produce four times as many graduates in computer science as they do now just to meet the current demand in that field.

Consequently, Imaginary Lines is launching a three-pronged attack, one aimed at increasing the number of young girls who are technically literate and who have the foundation they need to go on to careers in science, math and engineering.

Sally Ride Science Clubs will be forming around the nation this year, enabling girls to consult with experts, exchange ideas, collaborate with peers and embark on all sorts of online and offline adventures.

Open to upper elementary and middle school girls across the country, the national science clubs will offer girls a chance to chat with astronauts or check out career opportunities in technical fields as diverse as astrobiology and zoology.

Club members can contribute stories to a national newsletter, learn how cell phones work, design tech toys, invent devices to help astronauts live in weightlessness and attend science festivals with friends.

Ten pilot chapters already have been launched in cities such as Atlanta, and a national expansion is expected to get under way later this year.

"Our vision is for it to be a national club... to create chapters around the country so that we have good ways to encourage girls to come out to a science center and to experience the fun and the fascination of science first-hand," Ride said.

The paced start-up is intended to show Imaginary Lines what type of educational materials and experiences are most apt to enrapt club members -- "what works and what doesn't work, and what the girls want," Ride said.

"But we're really aiming to expand considerably in the fall. So in about six months, we expect to form probably a couple hundred chapters."

The Sally Ride Science Club, meanwhile, already is organizing Community Science Festivals, each of which bring together 600 to 1,000 middle school girls for a special day of science and socializing.

Held on college campuses around the country, the festivals all feature a well-known female astronaut, oceanographer, engineer or zoologist who kicks off the day with a presentation describing her work.

Local professionals such as physicists, microbiologists, veterinarians, astronomers, engineers and ecologists, then stage workshops for girls. And there are special workshops to show parents and teachers how best to support girls' interest in science, math and computers.

A lively Street Fair also features hands-on activities, sponsor booths, science demonstrations, food and music.

The whole idea is to enable girls to experience science as a natural outgrowth of their own curiosities, and have a good time doing it, Ride said.

Prong Number Three is the parent-daughter Space Camp experience, a first of its kind.

The weekend escapades are staged at U.S. Space Camp facilities in Alabama, California and in Florida, the latter of which is located just outside the gates to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Beyond the adventure of astronaut training and "flying" simulated shuttle missions, parents learn how to foster the natural scientific curiosity of their girls and also take home a handbook, "Encouraging Girls Interests in Science, Math and Technology."

The girls take home inspiration in the form of the Sally Ride Science Club publication, "What Do You Want To Be? Scientist. Engineer. Space Explorer. Girls Stuff!"

What's more, the young women at the recent camp in Huntsville had the chance to hold a teleconference with Ride, who flew on two space shuttle missions in the early 1980s before taking on her current job as a professor of physics at University of California at San Diego.

Katie Satre, the 11-year-old from Vermont, was there with her mom, Susan, and wanted to know all about the coolest things to do in orbit.

"Well, let's see, Katie. I think my favorite thing to do was one of two things."

The first was the chance to "look out the window back at Earth, because that's just a beautiful sight," Ride said.

"You get to see a lot of detail about our planet. You can see the city of Atlanta at night when you're flying over it in the space shuttle. You can see Huntsville, Alabama, when you're flying over it in the space shuttle. So you can see a lot of interesting things," she said.

"But maybe the thing that was most fun for me was being weightless, and being able to just do somersaults in the middle of the room, the middle of the space shuttle."

Danielle Fowler, 11, of Hickory, N.C., was there with her father, Craig, and asked Ride what she did during her two trips beyond the grasp of Earth's gravity.

"I did lots of different things in space. My first mission, we were the first flight to use the space shuttle's robot arm to let go of a satellite, and then the first flight to use the space shuttle's robot arm to grab a satellite that was in orbit. So we spent a lot of time doing that," Ride said.

"We launched a couple of communications satellites for different countries, and we also did a bunch of experiments inside the space shuttle on things like pharmaceutical research - drug research," she added.

"Then on my second flight, it was quite a different sort of a flight. It was mostly a flight to study the Earth from space. So we carried a lot of different experiments that were each designed to study maybe the surface of Earth, or the oceans, or the atmosphere," Ride said.

"And that was a great flight because since we were studying Earth, we got to be pointed toward Earth the whole time and we had a great view of the Earth out the window."

Did she ever get space sick?

"No, I'm happy to say I was one of the lucky astronauts. About half of all the astronauts get space sick for a day or two. And after a day or two it passes and everybody's fine," Ride said. "But I was one of the lucky ones. I did not get space sick."

Is she planning a return to orbit?

"No I'm not. I'm not with NASA anymore. I left NASA a little while ago. So I don't have any immediate plans to go back into space. But after I get off the phone, ask your counselors and your parents about John Glenn, because I kind of like what he did," Ride said.

"He got to be 75 years old and then he called NASA and said, `I'd like to go back into space.' And I think maybe I'm going to do that. I think I'm going to wait until I'm 75, and then I'm going to call NASA and say, `I want to go to Mars.' And so, when one of you is getting ready to launch for Mars, expect a call from me because I want to go with you."

The questions kept coming, and Ride fielded them all, telling the youngsters about her brief career as a professional tennis player and admitting that she was "a little bit scared" when shuttle Challenger blasted off on her first mission.

"It's pretty powerful, and it's really loud -- a lot of vibration -- so it's a little bit scary the very first part of the launch," Ride said.

They quizzed her about the future of human space exploration, and asked her whether she thought there might be life on other planets. And through it all, Ride emphasized the importance of studying hard, focusing on math and science, and being persistent in the pursuit of excellence.

The bottom line:

"It's really important to be able to give girls the opportunity to get to a place like Space Camp, to learn what those experiences are about, to learn about the opportunities that are open to them, and to encourage them and let them know that we think these are worthwhile careers," Ride said.

"We think that these are great things for them to be interested in, and we think that it's really important for them to follow their dreams wherever they may take them."