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Thank you, my friend SSG Jeffrey Leake for reminding us that on June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally Kristen Ride became the first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger’s second mission.'
She was a hero and inspiration to many. She died at age 61 of pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012.
Rest in peace Sally Kristen Ride
Sally Ride Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHf7RMNIIg
Images
1. The original, four-member STS-7 crew of (left to right) Bob Crippen, John Fabian, Rick Hauck and Sally Ride
2. Sally Ride 'Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle’s robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.”
3. Sally Ride became America’s first female astronaut in June 1983. She went on to become the first U.S. woman astronaut to complete a second space mission
Background from space.com/16756-sally-ride-biography.html
"Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space when she flew on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. She made two shuttle flights, and later became a champion for science education and a role model for generations. Ride died of cancer in 2012.
Encouraged to explore
Born in Encino, Calif., on May 26, 1951, Sally Kristen Ride was the older of two daughters of Dale B. Ride and Carol Joyce (Anderson) Ride. Her father was a professor of political science and her mother was a counselor. While neither had a background in the physical sciences, she credited them with fostering her deep interest in science by encouraging her to explore.
An athletic youngster, Ride attended Westlake High School for Girls, a prep school in Los Angeles, on a partial tennis scholarship. She graduated in 1968. After a brief foray into professional tennis, she returned to California to attend Stanford University. There she received a bachelor of science degree in physics and a bachelor of arts degree in English in 1973. Furthering her studies at Stanford, she obtained a master of science degree in 1975 and a doctorate in physics in 1978, according to a NASA biography of Ride.
After completing her studies at Stanford, Ride applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Besting thousands of applicants, Ride was selected as one of NASA's first six female astronauts and began spaceflight training in 1978.
Ride started her aeronautics career on the ground, serving as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) as part of the ground-support crew for the second (November 1981) and third (March 1982) shuttle flights.
At 32, Ride experienced her first spaceflight as a mission specialist on STS-7, NASA's seventh shuttle mission, aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The mission launched on June 18, 1983, and returned to Earth on June 24. Tasks on the mission included launching communications satellites for Canada and Indonesia. The astronauts also conducted the first successful satellite deployment and retrieval in space using the shuttle's robotic arm. During the flight, Ride became the first woman to operate the shuttle's robotic arm.
Ride's history-making Challenger mission was not her only spaceflight. She also became the first American woman to travel to space a second time when she launched on another Challenger mission, STS-41-G, on Oct. 5, 1984. That mission lasted nine days. On that flight, she used the shuttle's robotic arm to remove ice from the shuttle's exterior and to readjust a radar antenna. Ride was assigned to a third shuttle mission, but her crew's training was cut short by the Challenger disaster in January 1986. [Images: Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space]
Space shuttle investigations
While Ride shaped the future of space aeronautics on her first historic Challenger flight, she continued to influence the space program after her days of space travel were over. Ride served on the accident investigation boards set up in response to the two space shuttle tragedies — Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. In 2009, she participated in the Augustine committee that helped define NASA's spaceflight goals.
From 1982 to 1987, Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steven Hawley. They had no children.
Former astronaut Sally Ride talks to young women at the Sally Ride Science Festival, held at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla., in 2003.
Former astronaut Sally Ride talks to young women at the Sally Ride Science Festival, held at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla., in 2003.(Image credit: NASA)
Post-NASA work
After she left NASA in 1987, her passion for space and science continued. Ride joined Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control. She later became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. She served as president of Space.com from 1999 to 2000.
Believing that it was important encourage students — especially girls — to embrace the study of science, she co-founded Sally Ride Science, a science outreach company, in 2001, with her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy. One of the company's efforts included adding the MoonKam experiment onto unmanned NASA's Grail moon gravity probes, which allowed students to choose and take their own photos of the moon from lunar orbit.
Ride also wrote five science-related children's books: "To Space and Back"; "Voyager"; "The Third Planet"; "The Mystery of Mars"; and "Exploring Our Solar System."
Ride died on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61 following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
Legacy
Ride received numerous accolades shortly after her death. The spot on the moon where NASA intentionally crashed Ebb and Flow, the two gravity-mapping probes in the Grail mission, was named after her. Ride had played a key role in the project's education and outreach efforts. The U.S. Navy named a research ship after the astronaut. President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in November 2013.
"As the first American woman in space, Sally did not just break the stratospheric glass ceiling, she blasted through it," Obama said. "And when she came back to Earth, she devoted her life to helping girls excel in fields like math, science and engineering."
In 2014, journalist Lynn Sherr released a book about Sally Ride called "Sally Ride: America's First Woman In Space." Sherr had covered Ride's career extensively while working for ABC News, and over the years the two women became friends. Shortly after the book was published, Sherr did an interview with Space.com partner collectSPACE about Ride's career and the importance of the women's movement in her life.
O'Shaughnessy also wrote a children's biography of Ride, called "Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space." In an interview with Space.com, O'Shaughnessy said Sherr did an excellent job in her family-approved biography, but she wanted another to write another one to convey Ride's message to children.
"I started thinking about doing one myself for kids, and trying to do it as appropriately as I could with all the issues of death and being gay and being a gay couple, and Sally being such a hero to so many people," she said in a Space.com interview in 2015.
In late 2017, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Ride's image would appear on a stamp in 2018. The design portrays a painted portrait of Ride as she appeared around the time of her first spaceflight in 1983. Behind her is a space shuttle heading into space. "Sally Ride inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist and dedicated educator," the USPS said in a press release at the time."
FYI Sgt (Join to see) Maj William W. 'Bill' Price MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Lt Col Charlie Brown Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Maj Robert Thornton LTC Greg Henning Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SMSgt Lawrence McCarter TSgt Joe C. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell CSM Charles Hayden SGT Steve McFarland SPC Michael Terrell SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
She was a hero and inspiration to many. She died at age 61 of pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012.
Rest in peace Sally Kristen Ride
Sally Ride Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHf7RMNIIg
Images
1. The original, four-member STS-7 crew of (left to right) Bob Crippen, John Fabian, Rick Hauck and Sally Ride
2. Sally Ride 'Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle’s robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.”
3. Sally Ride became America’s first female astronaut in June 1983. She went on to become the first U.S. woman astronaut to complete a second space mission
Background from space.com/16756-sally-ride-biography.html
"Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space when she flew on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. She made two shuttle flights, and later became a champion for science education and a role model for generations. Ride died of cancer in 2012.
Encouraged to explore
Born in Encino, Calif., on May 26, 1951, Sally Kristen Ride was the older of two daughters of Dale B. Ride and Carol Joyce (Anderson) Ride. Her father was a professor of political science and her mother was a counselor. While neither had a background in the physical sciences, she credited them with fostering her deep interest in science by encouraging her to explore.
An athletic youngster, Ride attended Westlake High School for Girls, a prep school in Los Angeles, on a partial tennis scholarship. She graduated in 1968. After a brief foray into professional tennis, she returned to California to attend Stanford University. There she received a bachelor of science degree in physics and a bachelor of arts degree in English in 1973. Furthering her studies at Stanford, she obtained a master of science degree in 1975 and a doctorate in physics in 1978, according to a NASA biography of Ride.
After completing her studies at Stanford, Ride applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Besting thousands of applicants, Ride was selected as one of NASA's first six female astronauts and began spaceflight training in 1978.
Ride started her aeronautics career on the ground, serving as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) as part of the ground-support crew for the second (November 1981) and third (March 1982) shuttle flights.
At 32, Ride experienced her first spaceflight as a mission specialist on STS-7, NASA's seventh shuttle mission, aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The mission launched on June 18, 1983, and returned to Earth on June 24. Tasks on the mission included launching communications satellites for Canada and Indonesia. The astronauts also conducted the first successful satellite deployment and retrieval in space using the shuttle's robotic arm. During the flight, Ride became the first woman to operate the shuttle's robotic arm.
Ride's history-making Challenger mission was not her only spaceflight. She also became the first American woman to travel to space a second time when she launched on another Challenger mission, STS-41-G, on Oct. 5, 1984. That mission lasted nine days. On that flight, she used the shuttle's robotic arm to remove ice from the shuttle's exterior and to readjust a radar antenna. Ride was assigned to a third shuttle mission, but her crew's training was cut short by the Challenger disaster in January 1986. [Images: Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space]
Space shuttle investigations
While Ride shaped the future of space aeronautics on her first historic Challenger flight, she continued to influence the space program after her days of space travel were over. Ride served on the accident investigation boards set up in response to the two space shuttle tragedies — Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. In 2009, she participated in the Augustine committee that helped define NASA's spaceflight goals.
From 1982 to 1987, Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steven Hawley. They had no children.
Former astronaut Sally Ride talks to young women at the Sally Ride Science Festival, held at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla., in 2003.
Former astronaut Sally Ride talks to young women at the Sally Ride Science Festival, held at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla., in 2003.(Image credit: NASA)
Post-NASA work
After she left NASA in 1987, her passion for space and science continued. Ride joined Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control. She later became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. She served as president of Space.com from 1999 to 2000.
Believing that it was important encourage students — especially girls — to embrace the study of science, she co-founded Sally Ride Science, a science outreach company, in 2001, with her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy. One of the company's efforts included adding the MoonKam experiment onto unmanned NASA's Grail moon gravity probes, which allowed students to choose and take their own photos of the moon from lunar orbit.
Ride also wrote five science-related children's books: "To Space and Back"; "Voyager"; "The Third Planet"; "The Mystery of Mars"; and "Exploring Our Solar System."
Ride died on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61 following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
Legacy
Ride received numerous accolades shortly after her death. The spot on the moon where NASA intentionally crashed Ebb and Flow, the two gravity-mapping probes in the Grail mission, was named after her. Ride had played a key role in the project's education and outreach efforts. The U.S. Navy named a research ship after the astronaut. President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in November 2013.
"As the first American woman in space, Sally did not just break the stratospheric glass ceiling, she blasted through it," Obama said. "And when she came back to Earth, she devoted her life to helping girls excel in fields like math, science and engineering."
In 2014, journalist Lynn Sherr released a book about Sally Ride called "Sally Ride: America's First Woman In Space." Sherr had covered Ride's career extensively while working for ABC News, and over the years the two women became friends. Shortly after the book was published, Sherr did an interview with Space.com partner collectSPACE about Ride's career and the importance of the women's movement in her life.
O'Shaughnessy also wrote a children's biography of Ride, called "Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space." In an interview with Space.com, O'Shaughnessy said Sherr did an excellent job in her family-approved biography, but she wanted another to write another one to convey Ride's message to children.
"I started thinking about doing one myself for kids, and trying to do it as appropriately as I could with all the issues of death and being gay and being a gay couple, and Sally being such a hero to so many people," she said in a Space.com interview in 2015.
In late 2017, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Ride's image would appear on a stamp in 2018. The design portrays a painted portrait of Ride as she appeared around the time of her first spaceflight in 1983. Behind her is a space shuttle heading into space. "Sally Ride inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist and dedicated educator," the USPS said in a press release at the time."
FYI Sgt (Join to see) Maj William W. 'Bill' Price MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Lt Col Charlie Brown Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Maj Robert Thornton LTC Greg Henning Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SMSgt Lawrence McCarter TSgt Joe C. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell CSM Charles Hayden SGT Steve McFarland SPC Michael Terrell SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
(10)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
Who Was The First American Woman In Space? | Dr. Sally Ride | Spark
This documentary profiles the life and experiences of Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space aboard the Space Shuttle STS-7 in June 1983. I...
Who Was The First American Woman In Space? | Dr. Sally Ride | Spark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVcckmqxgFY
Images:
1. Floating freely on the flight deck, Sally Ride communicates with ground controllers in Houston during her STS-7 mission in June 1983
2. In her post-NASA career, Sally Ride established ‘Sally Ride Science’ to inspire children to become interested in science and space exploration
3. Sally Ride in a NASA T 38 jet
4. Tam O'Shaughnessy, Sally Ride's life partner and chair, board of directors of Sally Ride Science, is seen with President Barack Obama as she prepares to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of Dr. Ride in November 2013
5. Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy with their dog, gypsy, in 1992.
Background from {[businessinsider.com/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space-life-legacy-2019-6}]
The incredible life of Sally Ride, who became the 1st American woman in space after answering an ad in her college paper
Sinéad Baker Updated Jun 18, 2020, 1:34 PM
• Sally Ride became America's first woman in space 37 years ago.
• She answered a newspaper article with a handwritten note that led to acceptance by NASA and becoming a figurehead in efforts to improve science education in America even after her death.
• She joined when NASA had to adjust to having more women around and faced sexist questioning, but her partner told Business Insider that her life was defined by the attitude of "stereotypes be damned.'"
• She didn't embrace public attention but decided to use her platform to educate others: "Floating weightless in the shuttle and looking back at the earth just made her even more aware of the environment and made her more passionate about taking care of our planet."
Sally Ride had never thought about being an astronaut.
NASA had never had a female astronaut when she saw an article in Stanford's student newspaper and decided to write to the organization, asking for an application form for its space program in the 1970s.
The article said that NASA was recruiting women, and when she saw it as she was finishing her PhD in physics she knew she wanted to put herself forward.
The moment came about by chance, but it made everything clear for Ride, Tam O'Shaughnessy, her life partner, told Business Insider.
"She was eating breakfast in the cafeteria at Stanford, and she had one of those 'aha!' moments. It was like: 'Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to try to do that'. So she sent in a letter to NASA."
In a brief handwritten note, Ride wrote that she was "interested in the space shuttle program" and asked: "Please send me the forms necessary to apply as a space 'mission specialist' candidate.'"
That letter set in motion Ride's selection as the first American woman, and the second-ever woman, in space. She started her first voyage into space on June 18, 1983, exactly 37 years ago.
Ride, who made two trips to space, eventually became a key figure in efforts to improve how science is, taught and is still having an impact almost seven years after her death.
"I think that many people still only think of her as an astronaut," O'Shaughnessy said.
"But they don't appreciate how much she did behind the scenes to affect space policy, science education policy."
Ride's achievement was a first for America
Ride first went to space in 1983, as a mission specialist on NASA's second mission involving the Space Shuttle Challenger, and returned again 1984.
According to "Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space," a biography by Lynn Sherr, she was told she had been selected for her first crew before the other four men in the crew were told — a highly unusual move.
She said that the head of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center brought her in to his office and "talked with me about the implications of being the first woman."
"He reminded me that I would get a lot of press attention and asked if I was ready for that. His message was just, 'Let us know when you need help; we're here to support you in any way and can offer whatever help you need.'"
Ride controlled the shuttle's robotic arm, helping to test it in the years before she flew and offering recommendations for how the device could be improved in the future.
She was due to return to space again until the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986, killing its crew — many of whom Sally knew. The disaster is one of the most enduring tragedies in the history of space exploration.
Ride found out about the accident when flying on a commercial plane, and went straight to the space center when she landed. She was later appointed to the presidential commission investigating the accident.
Ride joined an organization that was adjusting to women
Ride said that she first thought she was "dreaming" when she was told in 1978 that she was selected as a candidate for space flight, and was even afraid to wake up her family early to tell them.
It was a huge step for Ride, and also a something of a learning curve for NASA, which she said had to make changes like introducing a women's locker room for the first time. The arrival of the six women, she said, "suddenly doubled the number of technical women" at the Johnson Space Center.
The newer male astronauts that joined alongside her, she said, were more used to the idea than the older class.
"It was easy to tell though that the males in our group were really pretty comfortable with us, while the astronauts who'd been around for a while were not all as comfortable and didn't quite know how to react," she said in a 2002 interview for the Johnson Space Center.
And the changes attracted international media attention, too. O'Shaughnessy said NASA's announcement that Ride was to go to space had "a major impact on her life."
"NASA held a huge press conference, and press from around the world came for it."
Ride, she said, "was kind an introvert," and struggled with the attention.
And Ride faced sexist questions from the media when her selection was announced. She told PBS in 1983 that she was asked whether the trip would affect her reproductive organs.
"Some of the questions she was asked were just unbelievable," O'Shaughnessy told Business Insider. "It's like, when you're under pressure, do you cry? Are you going to wear a bra in space?"
Ride's decision to go to space was part of a pattern of pioneering acts
"Sally never planned ahead," O'Shaughnessy said. "She never planned to become an astronaut. She never thought more than a few years ahead for what she was doing. She really followed her heart."
But even if she didn't plan, she managed to become a pioneer in many parts of her life, and not just her trip to space.
"Sally's legacy is really becoming a physicist at a time, and even today in the United States, there's only like, 20% of physicists are female," O'Shaughnessy told Business Insider.
"I think Sally, from the time she was a kid, she always wanted to be somebody and do something important."
Ride also had a passion for tennis and nearly played professionally, something that O'Shaughnessy described as "being a young girl and an athlete at a time when girls were not supposed to be athletes."
O'Shaughnessy said Ride rebelled against defined ideas of what she was not supposed to do: "It's like: 'I'm going to do what I want to do. I love sports, I'm going to play tennis. I love science, I'm going to be a physicist. The stereotypes be damned.'"
Ride also wanted to ensure that young people, and especially young women, would have similar opportunities. To that end in 2001, alongside O'Shaughnessy, she founded nonprofit group Sally Ride Science, which trains teachers, writes books, advocates for better science education policies, and holds workshops in schools.
Ride's time in space, O'Shaughnessy said, motivated her to think about the fragility of the planet, and to share the message with others.
"Floating weightless in the shuttle and looking back at the earth just made her even more aware of the environment and made her more passionate about taking care of our planet."
Ride sought to create a legacy that inspired and helped people to enter science
Ride's decision to publicly fight for science education came even as she struggled with public attention.
"Once she became famous, she actually didn't like it," O'Shaughnessy said, describing her as someone that liked to "get things done." She saw a psychologist, who urged her to to remember to take some "private moments," out of the spotlight, according to O'Shaughnessy.
Ride would be recognized in the grocery store, and "she was giving a lot of speeches and giving interviews on TV and for magazines, and she realized that she was struggling."
But Ride also realized she had a platform that could encourage people to embrace science.
"After her first flight, because she just became, overnight, very, very famous. She started giving speeches for NASA around the country, and she just really noticed how adults and kids are just fascinated by space," O'Shaughnessy said.
She wanted to make sure that children kept that passion, "so that more United States and world citizens are literate in science and technology, and at least have the option of careers in those fields."
Ride was hesitant to name Sally Ride Science, which is still operating under O'Shaughnessy, after herself. It was deliberately called "Imaginary Lines," but an investor urged them to change it "in light of her fame. "
"That name has magic, even today," O'Shaughnessy said. "People answer the phone when they hear Sally Ride Science. Because of her."
Ride made her life increasingly public despite her reluctance in receiving attention.
She had long protected her relationship with O'Shaughnessy, with friends and family knowing that they were a couple, but the public believing that the pair had simply remained friends throughout their lives.
They discussed making their 27-year-old relationship public about a week before Ride died from cancer in 2012. Ride had been "very worried about NASA and protecting the Astronaut Corps," but let O'Shaughnessy decide how to present their relationship when celebrating Ride's life.
O'Shaughnessy revealed the information in the obituary on the Sally Ride Science website.
When Ride was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama, O'Shaughnessy collected it on her behalf.
"He recognized that the Presidential Medal of Freedom had never been given to a same sex partner of somebody who had passed away. He just thought that was important."
Ride was also inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame, the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and given numerous public service awards and science awards.
She was described by NASA's administrator as an "American treasure" and by Obama as "a national hero and a powerful role model.
Her legacy, O'Shaughnessy said, is tied up with her record-breaking, her passion for science, and her "fighting for decades to improve science education in our country."
"Those are the things she cared about. She made a difference in each area. She really was, in my mind, a natural and true leader, in the best sense of the word."
FYI SSG Jacey R.LTC (Join to see) CPT Alan W. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel FYI MSG Michael Caldwell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSLSFC Derrick Harris SSgt Addison R. CPT Pedro Meza Lt Col John (Jack) ChristensenSSG Ed Mikus PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Diane R. A1C Ian Williams SPC Nancy Greene SGT Tiffanie G. SGT Mary G. MSgt Gloria Vance Lt Col Charlie Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVcckmqxgFY
Images:
1. Floating freely on the flight deck, Sally Ride communicates with ground controllers in Houston during her STS-7 mission in June 1983
2. In her post-NASA career, Sally Ride established ‘Sally Ride Science’ to inspire children to become interested in science and space exploration
3. Sally Ride in a NASA T 38 jet
4. Tam O'Shaughnessy, Sally Ride's life partner and chair, board of directors of Sally Ride Science, is seen with President Barack Obama as she prepares to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of Dr. Ride in November 2013
5. Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy with their dog, gypsy, in 1992.
Background from {[businessinsider.com/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space-life-legacy-2019-6}]
The incredible life of Sally Ride, who became the 1st American woman in space after answering an ad in her college paper
Sinéad Baker Updated Jun 18, 2020, 1:34 PM
• Sally Ride became America's first woman in space 37 years ago.
• She answered a newspaper article with a handwritten note that led to acceptance by NASA and becoming a figurehead in efforts to improve science education in America even after her death.
• She joined when NASA had to adjust to having more women around and faced sexist questioning, but her partner told Business Insider that her life was defined by the attitude of "stereotypes be damned.'"
• She didn't embrace public attention but decided to use her platform to educate others: "Floating weightless in the shuttle and looking back at the earth just made her even more aware of the environment and made her more passionate about taking care of our planet."
Sally Ride had never thought about being an astronaut.
NASA had never had a female astronaut when she saw an article in Stanford's student newspaper and decided to write to the organization, asking for an application form for its space program in the 1970s.
The article said that NASA was recruiting women, and when she saw it as she was finishing her PhD in physics she knew she wanted to put herself forward.
The moment came about by chance, but it made everything clear for Ride, Tam O'Shaughnessy, her life partner, told Business Insider.
"She was eating breakfast in the cafeteria at Stanford, and she had one of those 'aha!' moments. It was like: 'Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to try to do that'. So she sent in a letter to NASA."
In a brief handwritten note, Ride wrote that she was "interested in the space shuttle program" and asked: "Please send me the forms necessary to apply as a space 'mission specialist' candidate.'"
That letter set in motion Ride's selection as the first American woman, and the second-ever woman, in space. She started her first voyage into space on June 18, 1983, exactly 37 years ago.
Ride, who made two trips to space, eventually became a key figure in efforts to improve how science is, taught and is still having an impact almost seven years after her death.
"I think that many people still only think of her as an astronaut," O'Shaughnessy said.
"But they don't appreciate how much she did behind the scenes to affect space policy, science education policy."
Ride's achievement was a first for America
Ride first went to space in 1983, as a mission specialist on NASA's second mission involving the Space Shuttle Challenger, and returned again 1984.
According to "Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space," a biography by Lynn Sherr, she was told she had been selected for her first crew before the other four men in the crew were told — a highly unusual move.
She said that the head of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center brought her in to his office and "talked with me about the implications of being the first woman."
"He reminded me that I would get a lot of press attention and asked if I was ready for that. His message was just, 'Let us know when you need help; we're here to support you in any way and can offer whatever help you need.'"
Ride controlled the shuttle's robotic arm, helping to test it in the years before she flew and offering recommendations for how the device could be improved in the future.
She was due to return to space again until the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986, killing its crew — many of whom Sally knew. The disaster is one of the most enduring tragedies in the history of space exploration.
Ride found out about the accident when flying on a commercial plane, and went straight to the space center when she landed. She was later appointed to the presidential commission investigating the accident.
Ride joined an organization that was adjusting to women
Ride said that she first thought she was "dreaming" when she was told in 1978 that she was selected as a candidate for space flight, and was even afraid to wake up her family early to tell them.
It was a huge step for Ride, and also a something of a learning curve for NASA, which she said had to make changes like introducing a women's locker room for the first time. The arrival of the six women, she said, "suddenly doubled the number of technical women" at the Johnson Space Center.
The newer male astronauts that joined alongside her, she said, were more used to the idea than the older class.
"It was easy to tell though that the males in our group were really pretty comfortable with us, while the astronauts who'd been around for a while were not all as comfortable and didn't quite know how to react," she said in a 2002 interview for the Johnson Space Center.
And the changes attracted international media attention, too. O'Shaughnessy said NASA's announcement that Ride was to go to space had "a major impact on her life."
"NASA held a huge press conference, and press from around the world came for it."
Ride, she said, "was kind an introvert," and struggled with the attention.
And Ride faced sexist questions from the media when her selection was announced. She told PBS in 1983 that she was asked whether the trip would affect her reproductive organs.
"Some of the questions she was asked were just unbelievable," O'Shaughnessy told Business Insider. "It's like, when you're under pressure, do you cry? Are you going to wear a bra in space?"
Ride's decision to go to space was part of a pattern of pioneering acts
"Sally never planned ahead," O'Shaughnessy said. "She never planned to become an astronaut. She never thought more than a few years ahead for what she was doing. She really followed her heart."
But even if she didn't plan, she managed to become a pioneer in many parts of her life, and not just her trip to space.
"Sally's legacy is really becoming a physicist at a time, and even today in the United States, there's only like, 20% of physicists are female," O'Shaughnessy told Business Insider.
"I think Sally, from the time she was a kid, she always wanted to be somebody and do something important."
Ride also had a passion for tennis and nearly played professionally, something that O'Shaughnessy described as "being a young girl and an athlete at a time when girls were not supposed to be athletes."
O'Shaughnessy said Ride rebelled against defined ideas of what she was not supposed to do: "It's like: 'I'm going to do what I want to do. I love sports, I'm going to play tennis. I love science, I'm going to be a physicist. The stereotypes be damned.'"
Ride also wanted to ensure that young people, and especially young women, would have similar opportunities. To that end in 2001, alongside O'Shaughnessy, she founded nonprofit group Sally Ride Science, which trains teachers, writes books, advocates for better science education policies, and holds workshops in schools.
Ride's time in space, O'Shaughnessy said, motivated her to think about the fragility of the planet, and to share the message with others.
"Floating weightless in the shuttle and looking back at the earth just made her even more aware of the environment and made her more passionate about taking care of our planet."
Ride sought to create a legacy that inspired and helped people to enter science
Ride's decision to publicly fight for science education came even as she struggled with public attention.
"Once she became famous, she actually didn't like it," O'Shaughnessy said, describing her as someone that liked to "get things done." She saw a psychologist, who urged her to to remember to take some "private moments," out of the spotlight, according to O'Shaughnessy.
Ride would be recognized in the grocery store, and "she was giving a lot of speeches and giving interviews on TV and for magazines, and she realized that she was struggling."
But Ride also realized she had a platform that could encourage people to embrace science.
"After her first flight, because she just became, overnight, very, very famous. She started giving speeches for NASA around the country, and she just really noticed how adults and kids are just fascinated by space," O'Shaughnessy said.
She wanted to make sure that children kept that passion, "so that more United States and world citizens are literate in science and technology, and at least have the option of careers in those fields."
Ride was hesitant to name Sally Ride Science, which is still operating under O'Shaughnessy, after herself. It was deliberately called "Imaginary Lines," but an investor urged them to change it "in light of her fame. "
"That name has magic, even today," O'Shaughnessy said. "People answer the phone when they hear Sally Ride Science. Because of her."
Ride made her life increasingly public despite her reluctance in receiving attention.
She had long protected her relationship with O'Shaughnessy, with friends and family knowing that they were a couple, but the public believing that the pair had simply remained friends throughout their lives.
They discussed making their 27-year-old relationship public about a week before Ride died from cancer in 2012. Ride had been "very worried about NASA and protecting the Astronaut Corps," but let O'Shaughnessy decide how to present their relationship when celebrating Ride's life.
O'Shaughnessy revealed the information in the obituary on the Sally Ride Science website.
When Ride was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama, O'Shaughnessy collected it on her behalf.
"He recognized that the Presidential Medal of Freedom had never been given to a same sex partner of somebody who had passed away. He just thought that was important."
Ride was also inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame, the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and given numerous public service awards and science awards.
She was described by NASA's administrator as an "American treasure" and by Obama as "a national hero and a powerful role model.
Her legacy, O'Shaughnessy said, is tied up with her record-breaking, her passion for science, and her "fighting for decades to improve science education in our country."
"Those are the things she cared about. She made a difference in each area. She really was, in my mind, a natural and true leader, in the best sense of the word."
FYI SSG Jacey R.LTC (Join to see) CPT Alan W. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel FYI MSG Michael Caldwell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSLSFC Derrick Harris SSgt Addison R. CPT Pedro Meza Lt Col John (Jack) ChristensenSSG Ed Mikus PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Diane R. A1C Ian Williams SPC Nancy Greene SGT Tiffanie G. SGT Mary G. MSgt Gloria Vance Lt Col Charlie Brown
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Astronaut Sally Ride was the first American woman in Space. She paved the way for the women that followed her lead. During my 33 years on the Space Shuttle Program, I held the Astronauts in high regard.
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A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney - Absolutely. Living in the Houston area, we drove to Florida for three of the launches. One flight was delayed, but we did see two launches including the last Space Shuttle flight, STS-135, Atlantis, July 8, 2011. There was also heartbreak with the loss of Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia. With these losses, the Space Shuttle Program was shut down for a combined five years to fix the problems and make the Space Shuttle a safer vehicle.
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A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
Sgt (Join to see) -
Yes, I Also Saw Some Of Those Launches & Disasters,
But Just On Television Broadcasts,
But It's No Comparison To Having Been There At The Time, As You Were..
As I Understand The Reason For The Challenger Incident
Was Caused By Such A Simple Thing As A Faulty "O" Ring.
Do You Happen To Know If That's True Or Not?
Yes, I Also Saw Some Of Those Launches & Disasters,
But Just On Television Broadcasts,
But It's No Comparison To Having Been There At The Time, As You Were..
As I Understand The Reason For The Challenger Incident
Was Caused By Such A Simple Thing As A Faulty "O" Ring.
Do You Happen To Know If That's True Or Not?
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Sgt (Join to see)
A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney - True. The disaster was caused by the failure of the two redundant O-ring seals in a joint in the Space Shuttle's right solid rocket booster (SRB). The record-low temperatures of the launch reduced the elasticity of the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal the joints. The broken seals caused a breach into the joint shortly after liftoff, which allowed pressurized gas from within the SRB to leak and burn through the wall to the adjacent external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft attachment, which caused it to crash into the external tank, which caused a structural failure of the external tank and an explosion. Following the explosion, the orbiter, which included the crew compartment, was broken up by aerodynamic forces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
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SSG Jeffrey Leake
Sgt (Join to see) That was a very sad day. I was in high school watching as it happened.
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