Sally K. Ride, PhD (1951-2012)
“The best advice I can give anybody is to try to understand who you are and what you want to do, and don’t be afraid to go down that road and do whatever it takes and work as hard as you have to work to achieve that.” - Sally Ride, in her interview with the Academy of Achievement.
Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26th, 1951. Ride was a physicist and the first American woman and the first queer person to fly in space. She completed astronaut training in 1979 and departed on her first flight into space in June of 1983 with the Challenger on the STS-7 mission. Her second space flight was in 1984, aboard the challenger again on the STS-41-G mission. After the Challenger disaster in 1986, Ride led one of the first NASA strategic Planning comittees. She wrote a report entitled "NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space" also known as the "Ride Report", in which Ride made a new strategy for NASA. She left NASA in 1987 with over 300 hours spent in space.
After leaving NASA, Ride took on a multitude of educational endevors. She served as a professor at the University of California, San Diego, she led public-outreach programs for NASA, was president of a space news website, and created nurmerous different programs and camps for girls that wanted to study STEM. Ride created Sally Ride Science with Tam O'Shaughnessy (Later to be known as Sally Ride's partner), a company that created educational programs, publications, lesson plans, and other materials for science students. President Bill Clinton reached out to Ride to become the NASA Administrator but Ride declined the offer.
Ride passed in 2012 of pancreatic cancer. Her obituary was the first time it was publically known that O'Shaughnessy was her partner and that Ride identified as queer. Ride recieved many awards over her career and life, some of the most notable ones are as follows: Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, the NASA Space Flight Medal (twice), and the Presidental Medal of Freedom. In 2022, a statue of Ride was built infront of the Cradle of Aviation Museum and in 2023 a statue was also built in front of the Ronald Reagan Presidental Library.
Read more about Sally Ride, PhD:
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral HIstory Project - Sally Ride Transcript
Sally Ride - First American Woman in Space | NASA
Sally Ride | National Women's History Museum
- Title
- Sally Ride Astronaut Headshot
- Creator
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Date
- 1979
- Description
- Ride's Head shot taken after officially becoming an astronaut. The patch is for her first space trip, the Challenger STS-7.
- Format
- PNG
- Type
- Still Image
- Rights
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- Media
Headshot
- Title
- Sally Ride Notes on Operation
- Creator
- Sally Ride
- Date
- Written during NASA career, 1977-2000
- Description
- A selection of Ride's notes on operation, taken during her NASA astronaut candidate training.
- Format
- Rights
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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- extracted text
- Media
Operations Notes.pdf
- Title
- Mission Report
- Creator
- STS-7 Crew
- Contributor
- Sally K. Ride, John M. Fabian, Robert L. Crippen, Norman E. Thagard, and Frederick “Rick” H. Hauck.
- Date
- March, 1985
- Description
- Mission report of the STS-7 mission, the first space mission Ride was on. This was the first mission where a woman was picked to fly in space in America, marking a significant development in space history.
- Format
- Rights
- This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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- extracted text
- Media
Mission Report STS 7.pdf
- Title
- NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space, "Ride Report"
- Creator
- Sally Ride
- Date
- 1987
- Description
- The Ride Report is the informal name of the report titled NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space: A Report to the Administrator. In 1986, a task force under the leadership of Sally Ride was asked to formulate a new strategy for NASA. The report was issued in 1987.
- Format
- Rights
- This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
- https://www.si.edu/termsofuse
- extracted text
- Title
- Sally Ride Space Camp Brochure
- Creator
- Sally Ride
- Date
- 2002
- Description
- Brochure to Sally Ride's STEM camp for girls. Sally Ride created a summer educational camp for young girls to explore science and more specifically space.
- Format
- Rights
- This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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- extracted text
- Media
Space Camp.pdf
- Title
- Library of Congress Living Legend Award
- Creator
- Library of Congress
- Date
- April, 2000
- Description
- This Library of Congress "Living Legend" medal was awarded to Dr. Sally K. Ride in April 2000. The Library's curators and subject specialists select the honorees for the award, which are chosen based on their "significant contributions to America's diverse cultural, scientific and social heritage."
- Format
- Rights
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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- extracted text
- Media
Living Legend.pdf