After graduating from secondary school she enrolled in the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics where she studied until the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

[5][6] In total she flew 890 sorties during the war, with her last mission taking place over Berlin after participating in bombing campaigns in Taman, Crimea, Belarus, and Poland.

On 23 February 1945 Ryabova was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union for completing 816 missions, and the medal of the award was presented to her by the commander of the 2nd Byelorussian Front, Konstantin Rokossovsky, on 8 March.

[9] After being rejected from the Air Force Academy, she returned to her studies at Moscow State University, where she remained socially active after graduating in 1948 from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics before defending her thesis and earning her Ph.D. in 1951.

Due to a head injury she suffered in the war she experienced severe headaches often but tried to hide them, only to end up fainting when greeting an Italian delegation.