Sally Ride
First American woman in space
Born 1951 · Died 2012
Photo: NASA; retouched by Coffeeandcrumbs · Public domain
«All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.»
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on 18 June 1983 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, at 32 the youngest American astronaut to fly. A Stanford physicist and nationally ranked tennis player, she later served on both shuttle accident investigations and founded Sally Ride Science to draw girls into STEM.
Key achievements
- First American woman in space, 18 June 1983
- Served on both shuttle accident investigation boards
- Founded Sally Ride Science to bring girls into STEM
Universities
Stanford, California (next to Palo Alto)
BS in physics and BA in English, 1973; MS 1975 and PhD in physics 1978; later worked at Stanford's Center for International Security and Arms Control, 1987–89.
Facts
- In January 1977, finishing a PhD on the interaction of X-rays with the interstellar medium, she answered a NASA recruitment notice in the Stanford Daily; she was one of six women chosen from more than 8,000 applicants.
- She was good enough at tennis that Billie Jean King urged her to turn professional; she chose physics instead.
- She was the only person to sit on both the Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003) accident investigation boards.
- Her 27-year relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy was made public only in her obituary in 2012, making her the first known LGBT astronaut.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.