Read the paragraph from "Who Was Sally Ride?" How Did Sally Ride Become an Astronaut?

Sally Ride applied to be an astronaut in 1977. Sally was a college student and saw an advertisement that NASA was looking for women astronauts. It was the first time that women were invited to apply to the astronaut program and many women very much wanted to be a part of something so important and exciting. More than 1,000 women applied for the highly coveted position and Sally was one of only six women selected to the astronaut corps in 1978. Sally trained for over five years before her first space mission. Her training included navigation, parachute jumping, and communications.

Question 1
Part A

What is the meaning of coveted as it appears in the paragraph?

curious

welcomed

chosen

desired