Sally Ride

Sally Kristen Ride was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978. In 1983, she became the first American woman and the third woman ever to fly in space. She was the youngest American astronaut at that time, flying when she was just 32 years old.

Ride graduated from Stanford University with degrees in physics and English literature. She was part of NASA’s first group of astronauts that included women. She flew in space twice, first on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983 and again in 1984. During her missions, she helped deploy satellites and worked with the Shuttle’s robotic arm.

After leaving NASA in 1987, Ride worked at Stanford University and later at the University of California, San Diego. She also helped investigate two important space accidents. Sadly, Ride passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2012. She was also known for being the first astronaut to have been LGBTQ, though she kept this private until after her death.

Early life

Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951, in Santa Monica, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. She was the older child of Dale Burdell Ride and Carol Joyce Ride Anderson. Both of her parents were leaders in their church community.

Ride grew up in the Van Nuys and Encino neighborhoods of Los Angeles. She loved sports, especially tennis, and was coached by Alice Marble, a famous tennis player, when she was ten years old. She played tennis very well and was ranked 20th in Southern California for girls aged 12 and under by 1963. She attended several schools, including Westlake School for Girls, where she decided she wanted to study space science. After high school, she went to Swarthmore College but felt homesick and left to try to become a professional tennis player. She later attended the University of California, Los Angeles and then Stanford University, where she earned degrees in physics and English literature, and later a doctorate in physics.

NASA astronaut

Selection and training

Main article: NASA Astronaut Group 8

In 1977, Sally Ride saw a newspaper article about NASA looking for new astronauts, including women. No women had been astronauts before, but a Soviet cosmonaut had flown in space in 1963. Ride applied and became one of many finalists. She was chosen in 1978 as part of NASA’s group of 35 new astronauts, including six women.

Training included learning to fly airplanes and preparing for space missions. Ride enjoyed flying so much that she took lessons to get her pilot license. In 1979, the group finished training and became official astronauts.

STS-7

Main article: STS-7

In 1983, Ride became the first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger. The mission’s goal was to deploy two communication satellites. Ride helped operate the Shuttle’s robot arm and worked on experiments. The mission lasted almost six days.

STS-41-G

Main article: STS-41-G

Ride flew again in 1984 on Challenger. This time, she and another woman astronaut were the first two women in space together. The mission included deploying a satellite and doing experiments. Ride helped fix an antenna using the robot arm.

Rogers Commission

After the Challenger disaster in 1986, Ride served on the commission investigating what went wrong. She helped reveal important information about safety issues that led to the accident. Later, she worked on planning future space missions for NASA.

After NASA

In May 1987, Sally Ride left NASA to join Stanford University for a two-year study. She worked with experts, including Condoleezza Rice, to find ways to count and check nuclear warheads from space. However, the end of the Cold War made this less important. She hoped to stay at Stanford permanently, but could not find a position there.

In 1989, Ride became a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego and director of the California Space Institute. She studied light and how it behaves in unusual ways. She led two fun projects for middle school students: ISS EarthKAM and GRAIL MoonKAM. These let students request pictures of Earth and the Moon from space cameras.

She also wrote science books for kids, especially girls, to encourage them to learn about science. Ride served on important committees to help improve science education and space policy.

Death

Sally Ride was found to have a serious illness during a speech in 2011. She received medical care but passed away at her home in La Jolla on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61.

Her ashes were placed beside her father’s at a cemetery in Santa Monica. Her work and documents are kept at the National Air and Space Museum Archives of the Smithsonian Institution.

Awards and honors

Sally Ride received many awards during her life and after it ended. She was given important prizes like the von Braun Award and the NASA Space Flight Medal twice. Schools, such as Sally Ride Elementary in The Woodlands, Texas and Germantown, Maryland, were named after her. She was also put into several halls of fame, including the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

After her passing, many more honors were given to her. NASA named a place on the moon after her, and a research ship was named the RV Sally Ride (AGOR-28). She received the highest civilian award in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her name appeared on a stamp and even on the first U.S. quarters to feature women. Statues of her were placed in museums and libraries to remember her achievements.

In popular culture

Sally Ride appeared as herself in a 1999 episode of Touched by an Angel titled "Godspeed." Astronauts Chris Hadfield and Catherine Coleman wrote a song called "Ride On," which was included in Hadfield's album Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can.

In 2013, she was portrayed in the TV movie The Challenger Disaster by actress Eve Best. In 2017, a special Lego set called "Women of NASA" included mini-figurines of Ride, Margaret Hamilton, Mae Jemison, and Nancy Roman. In 2019, Mattel made a Barbie doll that looked like Ride as part of their "Inspiring Women" series.

In 2021, Ride was shown in the second season of the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind, played by Ellen Wroe. The show imagines an alternate history where another woman flies in space first, but Ride still appears as part of an important mission.

Selected works

Sally Ride wrote many interesting books about space and science for young readers. Some of her popular books include To Space and Back, Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System, and The Mystery of Mars. She also wrote books about exploring our solar system and the Earth from space, as well as guides on how humans are changing our world and what we can do to help protect it.