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Sally Ride thought she’d grow up to be a physics professor, plus she did. But before that, she became the first American woman in space. She went on to found Sally Ride Science, a company focused on improving science education for kids, which she called a “business imperative for the country.” She died in July, at age 61, just weeks after talking with HBR. Interviewed by Alison Beard

HBR: You’ve been described as a reluctant role model. But you’re now the public face of your company. How did you make that transition?

Ride: I never went into physics or the astronaut corps to become a role model. But after my first flight, it became clear to me that I was one. And I began to understand the importance of that to people. Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can’t be what you can’t see.

Tell me about your decision to become an astronaut.

At the time I grew up, the space program was on the front page of the newspaper almost every day. It was the coolest thing around. I idolized the astronauts, but I never thought really seriously about becoming one. My passion was science, so when I went to college plus graduate school, I was on a path to become a physicist. I wanted to work at a university as a professor plus a physics researcher. Then a little while before I was set to defend my PhD thesis, I happened to read an ad in the Stanford University student newspaper saying that NASA was looking for astronauts. The momen I saw that ad I knew that that was what I really wanted to do given the opportunity. And somewhat unbelievably, NASA chose me plus my life took quite a turn.

You were one of only six women in a class of 35. How did you feel about breaking ground in that way?

I didn’t really think about it as breaking ground, which seems ridiculous, but I was so excited that I had been given a chance, that I might fly in a space shuttle someday. That was really my focus.

So NASA didn’t feel like a boys club?

There was some culture shock, because they were used to male fighter pilots. But our class of 35 was much less a boys club. We spent a lot of time together, plus that’s where the camaraderie was built. We had a support system, plus it didn’t take very long for us to be accepted. That said, it was always comforting that there were six of us women, not two. It made it clear that NASA was committed to really bringing more gender diversity into the astronaut corps.

Why do you think NASA chose you to be the first American woman in space?

I haven’t a clue. They have their process; I think a lot of it is just the gut feeling of the people making the decision. It certainly could have been any of the six of us.

Were there any downsides to that honor?

It’s hard to call them downsides, but I did feel a lot of pressure to know my assignments as well as the men on the crew knew theirs, to be seen as an integral part of the mission, to do a good job up in space. And that pressure built through the year of training we had in preparation for the flight.

Obviously when you’re on a space mission, it’s a high-pressure, highly intimate work environment. What’s the secret to working well together in those sorts of situations?

The people that selected our crew for my first flight did a wonderful job. We got along beautifully, plus by the time we launched, we were so close that it was almost like flying with four brothers. We were a pretty well-oiled machine plus a very collaborative group.

The Challenger accident happened after your second space flight. You served on that investigation committee plus the one that looked into the Columbia disaster 17 years later. What were the most important lessons from those incidents?

NASA had a strong reputation for quality control, risk management, plus attention to detail—a real appreciation for the fact that nothing could be allowed to go wrong. But they had let their attention drift; there was more willingness to let problems be solved over time instead of immediately, plus that was significant in both accidents. The people who were at NASA at the time of the Challenger accident will never forget it plus took those lessons to heart. But the institution itself did not do anything to make sure that new people were taught those lessons when they came to NASA plus were later elevated to positions of power. There was nomer official, institutionalized way to pass those lessons on. The Air Force had a fairly famous class using the Challenger accident as a case study for management training, but NASA never did, plus that became apparent at the time of the Columbia accident.

NASA asked you to help develop its first strategic plan, which sounds like a bit of a departure for an astronaut turned physicist. Tell me about that process.

Although it sounds like a departure, in the training that you get as an astronaut, you really have to have a good appreciation for how all the parts to an organization fit together. The launching of the space shuttle is a very complex masalah that involves thousands plus thousands of people from government employees to contractors, plus the astronauts have a vested interest in making sure all these parts are working well together. So although we of course don’t manage the process, we really do see everything of importance—and even the unimportant things—about our own flight plus have input in those decisions. So I had a lot more experience in management plus planning than you might expect. I was assigned to NASA headquarters for about two years, plus I was proud of the document we produced plus the process we put in place to get people to think about the future. It’s much different from a space mission, but it’s definitely a process where collaboration is critical. It requires facilitating discussions, listening to people’s opinions, plus generating a collegial atmosphere so that you can put together a strategic vision that represents the whole organization.

Sally Ride is best known as the first American woman in space. Following her death on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61, she also is being remembered as a soft-spoken physicist who wanted to inspire young people to consider careers in technical fields.

“As the first American woman to travel into space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model,” President Barack Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars and later fought tirelessly to help them get there by advocating for a greater focus on science and math in our schools.”

“As the first American woman to travel into space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model,” President Barack Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars and later fought tirelessly to help them get there by advocating for a greater focus on science and math in our schools.”

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden added his praise for Ride’s example.

Following her career with NASA, in 2001 Ride founded her own company, Sally Ride Science, to pursue her long-time passion of motivating girls and young women to pursue careers in science and math.

“Sally was a personal and professional role style to me and thousands of women around the world,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. “Her spirit and determination will continue to be an inspiration for women everywhere.”

A Los Angeles native, Ride was an outstanding athlete who was nationally ranked in tennis as a youth. She went on to attend Stanford University where tennis great Billie Jean King saw how well she played and suggested she leave college and become a professional tennis player.

Ride decided to stay in school, earning four degrees including a doctorate in physics in 1978.

One of 35 astronauts selected in 1978, Ride was in the first grup of Americans selected for spaceflight that included women and minorities. She and five other women were chosen out of 8,000 applicants. The class dubbed themselves the “Thirty-Five New Guys.”

Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in space. For fun, she liked to run. She also played tennis, volleyball plus softball. Ride wrote science books for children. The books are about exploring space.

What Was Sally Ride’s Early Life Like?
Sally Ride was born May 26, 1951, in California. After high school, she went to Stanford University in California. She earned degrees in physics. Physics is a style of science.

How Did Sally Ride Become an Astronaut?
NASA began looking for women astronauts in 1977. Sally Ride was a student at the time. She saw an ad in the school newspaper inviting women to apply to the astronaut program. Sally Ride decided to apply for the job. She was one of six women picked!

What Did Sally Ride Do as an Astronaut?
On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space. She was an astronaut on a space shuttle mission. Her job was to work the robotic arm. She used the arm to help put satellites into space. She flew on the space shuttle again in 1984.

What Did Sally Ride Do After She Left NASA?
Ride stopped working for NASA in 1987. She started teaching at the University of California in San Diego. She started looking for ways to help women plus girls who wanted to study science plus mathematics. She came up with the idea for NASA’s EarthKAM project. EarthKAM lets middle school students take pictures of Earth using a camera on the International Space Station. Students then study the pictures.
In 2003, Ride was added to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The Astronaut Hall of Fame honors astronauts for their hard work.
Until her death on July 23, 2012, Ride continued to help students – especially girls -study science plus mathematics. She wrote science books plus other things for students plus teachers. She worked with science programs plus festivals around the United States.

America’s first woman in space worked to make STEM education more equitable and inclusive, with a special emphasis on encouraging participation by girls

The U.S. Mint recently announced the first two women who will be honored on quarters as part of a program to celebrate American women’s achievements: the writer, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou and Sally Ride, a “trailblazing astronaut,” as the agency correctly described her. Ride was also a physicist and science communicator whose zeal to get the public and students, particularly girls, more involved in science showed the same steely determination she’d taken into orbit.

I observed Ride’s dedication to science communication up close from 1999 to 2000, when she was president of Space.com, which was founded by the broadcast personality Lou Dobbs, who served as the chair. I was a staff writer and editor there since before the Web publication went live in July 1999, on the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The dot-com boom had brought high hopes that internet start-ups could prove their financial mettle and undertake successful public stock offerings, but as that boom neared its tail end, pressure to generate Web traffic and advertising revenue was high. Dobbs was a notoriously difficult boss, contributing to the heated atmosphere. The company’s first president had stepped down, and Ride was brought in as a replacement, dividing her time between the company’s newsroom in New York City and her physics-teaching responsibilities in California.

Ride was adamant about making sure the company earned respect as a reliable source of science news and information. She put the site’s editors in touch with her science colleagues to double-check the accuracy of articles. The company had taken an eclectic approach to covering space, touching on everything from astronomy to space commerce to science fiction, with a portion of the site catering to the dubious culture of UFO aficionados. Ride ensured that the emphasis would be on science, without credulous reporting on supposed alien phenomena.

Ride also had a notably kind and patient presence, listening intently to employee grievances and staying calm amid the daily Web publishing scramble. I once sent her a memo somewhat caustically discussing whether a sentence on the site should say “memento” or “momento,” and she took my pedantic copyediting in stride. In mid-2000 I resigned from Space.com during a tense staff meeting with Dobbs, at which Ride was not present, and she, too, left the company some months later. Despite the turmoil of the deflating dot-com bubble, Space.com remained operational, unlike many Web ventures at the time. Having undergone changes in structure and ownership, it continues to conduct science journalism along the course Ride charted for it, and it has contributed alumni to various media outlets, including Scientific American. (Space.com is a content partner of Scientific American.)

In 2001 Ride joined three colleagues, as well as her life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy, to found Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to making STEM education more equitable and inclusive, with a special emphasis on encouraging participation by girls. The company, which became a nonprofit in 2015 under the auspices of the University of California, San Diego, has provided numerous workshops for children, hosted science festivals, published books, and enabled kids to capture images of Earth and the moon taken from space platforms. Sally Ride Science has also provided teacher training and held contests for student teams to compete in developing toys and games.

When Sally Ride became the first American woman to soar into space, she captured the nation’s imagination as a symbol of the ability of women to shatter barriers. But Sally’s historic flight represented just one aspect of a remarkable plus multifaceted life. She was also an athlete, a physicist, a science writer plus an inspirational leader in science education.

In 2001 Sally joined with her life partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, plus three like-minded colleagues to start a company called Sally Ride Science. The goal was to inspire girls plus boys of all backgrounds in STEM (science, technology, engineering plus math) plus to promote science literacy. After Sally’s death, the company became a nonprofit based at UC San Diego. Today Sally Ride Science carries on her legacy with innovative STEM programs under the direction of UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies.

Early years
Sally Kristen Ride was born in Los Angeles on May 26, 1951. Even as a young girl, she was drawn to science. Her father, Dale, a social studies teacher, plus her mother, Joyce, a homemaker, were puzzled by her fascination with science, but they strongly encouraged her. They gave her a chemistry set plus a telescope plus got her a subscription to Scientific American. Dale plus Joyce impressed upon Sally plus her younger sister, Bear, that they could achieve anything they set their minds to.

A gifted athlete, Sally loved to play sports, especially tennis. She competed in junior tennis tournaments around Southern California plus earned a partial tennis scholarship to the elite Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. There she encountered an inspirational teacher, Dr. Elizabeth Mommaerts, who nurtured her interest in science.

After graduating from high school in 1968, Sally headed east to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where she studied physics plus played on the women’s basketball plus field hockey teams. She was also the top player on the women’s tennis team, plus in 1969, she won the Eastern Collegiate Tennis Tournament. But she grew more plus more homesick for California, so after three semesters, she returned home.

Sally had been wondering if she could succeed as a pro tennis player. Back in Los Angeles, she practiced tennis for hours every day while also taking classes at the University of California Los Angeles. Ultimately she opted for physics instead. Later, when asked why she decided not to pursue a tennis career, she would answer jokingly, “My forehand.” She also said, “I realized … that my education, science, was more important to me than tennis was.”

In the fall of 1970, Sally transferred to Stanford University, where she was one of only a few women majoring in physics. She also was the top player on the women’s tennis team. She graduated in 1973 with a double major in physics plus English, plus continued at Stanford to earn her master’s degree in physics in 1975.

When I was a child, I wanted to be an astronaut. I love to talk about it. I am proud of myself because I am currently an astrophysicist, which is, in a sense, somehow similar. It is clear that I was totally fascinated by the sky at first, but this soon turned into a fascination with the Universe.

I remember when I was still at school, deciding which Bachelor’s degree to pursue. I checked all the requirements to be an astronaut on the European Space Agency (ESA) plus the National Air plus Space Administration (NASA) webpages. Unfortunately, I came across something that could potentially destroy my dream of becoming an astronaut: myopia. Myopia is a common vision condition that can be described as blurred vision when an obyek moves further away from a person. The webpage states it clearly: an astronaut candidate needs to have perfect vision. Astronaut candidates must not have a history of having glasses, contact lenses, laser or eye surgery. In my eyes, this was the end of my dream. I am still wondering if something has changed, in the meanwhile…never say never!

In January 1977, Sally Ride experienced a similar feeling while finishing her PhD in Physics, spotting an article in a newspaper advertising that NASA was recruiting a new group of astronauts for the Space Shuttle program plus that – for the first time – women could apply! She knew immediately she wanted to fly into space. Ride was one of the 8,079 applications received by NASA, plus despite the competition, she became the first American woman plus third woman ever to go to space.

Before we go any further, let us take a langkah back. Before Sally Ride decided to study Physics plus become an astronaut, she was working towards a career as a tennis player. Her perfect physical shape actually helped her pass the astronaut selection process. During this period, she met Tam Elizabeth O’Shaughnessy, a tennis player plus scientific writer, who was her partner in life for 27 years, until her death in 2012. Sally plus Tam became growingly concerned about the lack of women in science. They understood that girls needed more role models to pursue plus succeed in this field. As Sally liked to say, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” This is a quote that is still valid nowadays as it was more than 40 years ago.

In fact, as the first American female astronaut assigned to a space shuttle crew, Sally got the attention of the tempat plus had to deal with questions like “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?”. She stayed calm plus answered, “How come nobody ever asks Rick these questions?” Rick Hauck, her crew mate.

In 2001, Sally plus Tam founded the non-profit organisation “Sally Ride Science.” They created programs to inspire girls plus boys of all backgrounds in science. Today, the “Sally Ride Science” is part of the University of California, San Diego, where Sally became a Professor in Physics after leaving NASA. The year after Sally died, Tam accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama on behalf of Sally, the American highest civilian honor.

Sally Ride was, plus still is, a role style in the scientific field for the generations that followed her (including mine). She was not only a pioneer in space travel, helping open that field to other women, but she was also a scientist committed to gender equity, promoting the scientific career among girls plus women, plus encouraging young people to stay in science as they go through their career. She is one of the leading figures on which we build the future in science.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Sally Ride making history as the first American woman plus youngest person to travel to space. On her journey to acing physics exams, tennis serves, plus NASA training, Sally could always count on her trusty Levi’s® 501® jeans. She loved that they hugged her body perfectly (not too loose, not too tight), plus gave her the freedom to move as she pleased.

We’ve all looked up at the night sky plus wondered what more is out there. From a young age, inquiring through her telescope, Sally Ride took this question a bit more seriously than her peers. So even after being told by her role style Billie Jean King that she had a promising career in tennis, Sally knew her destiny lay in science.

Sally studied English plus physics at university, wearing her comfortable 501® jeans. The more she wore them, the more they faded plus frayed at the knees—only getting better with age.

One day, while finishing her Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University, Sally stumbled upon an article in her school newspaper saying NASA was recruiting new astronauts,- plus for the first time, women could apply. Out of the 8,000 applicants, 35 were accepted, including six women. Sally was one, plus the rest is history.

Sally’s NASA training included a geology trip to New Mexico where, once again, she wore her favorite 501®s, now with blown out knees. She loved that they stood the test of time, plus as history would have it, so would the legacy of Sally Ride.

Sally’s curiosity plus intellect made her a standout among her colleagues, but that didn’t shield her from receiving questions from reporters like, “Do you cry when things go wrong?” or, “Does the flight affect your reproductive organs?” Sally let her achievements speak for themselves, plus on June 18th, 1983, she made history.

Sally Ride was a trailblazing astronaut, talented physicist and dedicated educator. 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. 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.

The patch on the left breast of Ride’s crew jacket had her first plus last name per protocol, but on the workaday flightsuit she wore beneath it, the name tag was less formal: “Sally.”
Sally K. Ride might have been a professional tennis player—she was nationally ranked when she played for Stanford University, plus no less an authority than Billie Jean King urged her to turn pro. Instead, the Ph.D. astrophysicist answered an ad in the Stanford Daily seeking women to apply to NASA, plus five years later, she became the youngest American to fly in space, and, more critically, the first U.S. woman. Upon her return to Johnson Space Center after the completion of STS-7, the first of her two missions aboard the Challenger, a NASA official handed her (but not her crewmates) a bouquet of flowers. She accepted them plus then, wishing to free her hands—not, she said later, to send any kind of message—she handed them right back. Inevitably, her every gesture would be parsed for its meaning.

Her official NASA jacket, on the other hand, is unambiguous, a wearable résumé adorned with patches to be worn for the inevitable public appearances that are part of the astronaut job description. As an inspiration to young women, Ride made plenty of those appearances. After her second mission, STS‑14, Ride served on the commission appointed to uncover the cause of the 1986 Challenger disaster plus in 2003, on the panel that investigated the tragedy of Columbia. Ride’s partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, donated the jacket to the National Air plus Space Museum in 2013, the year after Ride’s death. It is just like all the other jackets worn by the astronauts of the shuttle era—and it is one-of-a kind.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has acquired a significant collection of personal possessions and papers that belonged to Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. The Sally K. Ride Collection illuminates Ride as both a public figure and a private person with items spanning from early childhood to her career at NASA and onward to head Sally Ride Science. A selection of these artifacts will go on display in the new Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall in July 2016.

This collection of personal items reveals a woman with a variety of interests and talents that go beyond her career as an astronaut. Ride was interested in science from an early age as illustrated by her microscope, telescope and slide rules, as well as her academic notebooks from college and her later lectures as a university professor. A tennis racquet and trophy represent her accomplished athletic career as a youth.

A large portion of the collection consists of pieces from her iconic role as a NASA astronaut from 1978 to 1987. The items range from mission patches, a flight jacket and helmet to those that show how Ride was celebrated as America’s first woman in space, such as a Newsweek cover, various awards and the torch she carried in the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympics.

“This remarkable collection traces the full arc of Sally Ride’s life from childhood to her last endeavors, revealing aspects of her public persona and hinting at her private one,” said Valerie Neal, chair of the museum’s Space History Department. “It is an honor for the museum to be selected as the repository for possessions and papers that she held dear. They will prove of great interest to researchers and our visitors alike.”

There are 182 items in the collection and 40 cubic feet of papers. The collection is a gift from Tam O’Shaughnessy, Sally Ride’s long-time partner in life, writing and business.

“When I was a girl, I had a teacher who encouraged my interest in science. She challenged me to be curious, to ask questions, plus to think about things for myself. She helped build my self-confidence. All of these helped me to become a scientist plus an astronaut.” — Sally Ride, Ph.D. 1951-2012.

As the first U.S. woman in space, Sally Ride understood the impact she would have as a role style to girls plus young women, plus she took that responsibility seriously. She dedicated her life to promoting education plus interest in the sciences for an entire generation of women.

In 2001, Sally Ride started “Sally Ride Science,” a company to create educational programs plus products to help inspire girls plus young women to pursue their interests in science plus math. Ride served as its president plus CEO.

One of the outlets for this effort is a fairly recent one, the Sally Ride Science AcademyTM, which was established in 2009. It is a “train-the-trainer” program that helps teachers pique the curiosity of students in a variety of scientific areas. According to the Academy, “introducing young students to diverse examples of science careers plus scientists can ignite their interest plus make the study of science more meaningful to them.”

Since its inception in 2009, the Sally Ride Science AcademyTM has trained over 650 instructors in 16 states plus the District of Columbia. Using Academy materials, those instructors have in turn gone back to their districts plus trained other educators. To date, more than 5,400 educators have been trained.

It is projected that by the end of the 2012-2013 school year, the Academy will have touched approximately 604,000 elementary plus middle school students.

This effort is based on the need not only for more STEM (science, technology, engineering plus math) professionals, but for a more diverse grup of STEM professionals, including more women.

U.S. Department of Labor Workforce projections indicate that 15 of the 20 fastest growing occupations in 2014 will require significant science or mathematics training to successfully compete for a job.

A report issued in 2011 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce showed that for all 50 states, ratings were very poor in the “student achievement” category. Not a single state had more than 60 percent of its students showing proficiency on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) fourth plus eighth grade assessments for reading plus math.

The United States is lagging in the sciences behind its foreign counterparts. A 2009 report by the National Center for Education Statistics compared 15 year-old U.S. students with other countries in the Organization for Economic Development plus found that the U.S. students placed below average in both math plus science. In math, the high schoolers were in the bottom quarter of the countries that participated, putting them behind China, Finland plus Estonia. In science, U.S. students lagged behind Canada, Japan plus the Czech Republic.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 women accounted for roughly half the keseluruhan workforce, plus 52 percent of the workforce in management plus professional occupations. With the need increasing for science plus math skills, it is becoming imperative that girls plus young women become proficient in the sciences.

Much has happened in the intervening years. During the span of three decades, the shuttles flew 135 times carrying hundreds of American plus international astronauts into space before they were retired in 2011. The International Space Station began to fly in 1998 plus has been continuously occupied since 2001, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. More than 50 women have now flown into space, most of them Americans. One of these women, Dr. Peggy Whitson, became chief of the Astronaut Office plus holds the American record for number of hours in space.

This inclusive approach began in 1972 when Congress plus the president approved the Space Shuttle budget plus contract. Spacesuits, seats plus all crew equipment were initially designed for a larger range of sizes to fit all body types, plus the waste management system was modified for females. Unlike earlier vehicles, the Space Shuttle could lift up to eight astronauts at a time. It had a design more similar to an airplane than a small capsule, with two decks, sleeping berths, large laboratories plus a galley. It also provided privacy.

I graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Washington in 1971 and, by 1976, I was a young engineer working on the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, with Rockwell International at Edwards Air Force Base, in California. I helped to design plus produce the thermal protection system – those heat resistant ceramic tiles – which allowed the shuttle to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere for up to 100 flights.

It was a heady time; a new space vehicle could lift large crews plus “cargo,” including space laboratories plus the Hubble Space Telescope. The Shuttle also had a robotic arm, which was critical for the assembly of the International Space Station, plus an “airlock” for space walks, plus enabled us to build the International Space Station.

During one of the countless, often boneheaded interviews Sally Ride endured about her pioneering role in the United States space program, she schools a reporter on how to address her. “It’s Dr. Ride or Sally, but not Miss,” she says, flashing a smile that softened the lecture and much of director Cristina Costantini’s absorbing documentary the first American woman to go into space.

Throughout “Sally,” Costantini (“Science Fair”) leans into Ride’s face — the smile, the blue eyes, the moments of pensive regard — by closing in on archival images. Sometimes, she creates a palpable presence by linking footage with audio from interviews Ride gave during her lifetime.

In 1978, Ride was among the first women to enter NASA’s space program. Her groundbreaking compatriots were Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, Shannon Lucid, Margaret Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan. Fisher and Sullivan appear here with stories that illuminate the era, but also humanize both their own and Ride’s ambitions. (Resnik died in the 1985 Challenger explosion.)

Ride had been a Ph.D. candidate in physics at Stanford when NASA announced that it was opening its ranks to women and people of color. That year, out of 8,000 applicants, 1,500 were women. As for the demographic make-up of those in that first class who weren’t white males? A news anchor reported, “Six women, three Black and one oriental.”

Costantini, along with editors Kate Hackett and Andy McAllister, make deft use of plentiful archival footage, often manifesting the energy and excitement that the U.S. space program generated, while having fun doing it: The director buoys a montage of Ride teaming up for flight training with John Fabian after they were announced as Challenger crewmembers with ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky.”

Having flown missions during the Vietnam War, astronaut Mike Mullane tells the filmmaker he didn’t think the women admitted had “paid their dues.” He recounts telling a joke in which the punchline was “tits.” After that he and Ride seldom interacted. In 1978, Mullane was the sinewy, crew-cut embodiment of the men profiled in Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff.” And the filmmaker follows up his dismissiveness with sitcom and movie clips making jabs at the notion of female astronauts. They are examples of bias, to be sure, but also signs of an impressive lack of imagination.

Astronaut and icon, Sally Ride, was the first American woman to journey into space, and changed the face of STEM and space exploration forever. She also had a connection to La Jolla you may not have known.

Born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, Ride spent her early years in Encino, balancing her love for sports and science. While the international remembers her for her groundbreaking NASA missions, her later years in La Jolla, revealed her passion for education and equity in science — defining her enduring legacy.
Source: NASA – Sally Ride Biography.

PASSION FOR SCIENCE AND SPORTS

Ride’s childhood was anything but ordinary, sources report. An accomplished tennis player, she considered a professional athletic career before ultimately choosing academics. After graduating from Westlake School for Girls, she attended Stanford University, where she earned degrees in English and physics — an unusual combination that reflected her curiosity and intellect. By 1978, she had completed her Ph.D. in physics, making her one of a small kelompok of women in the field at the time.
Source: Stanford Alumni Profiles.

NASA’S CALL

In 1977, Ride’s career trajectory shifted dramatically when NASA began accepting women into its astronaut training program. Chosen as one of six women in the 1978 astronaut class, Ride quickly emerged as a role type for breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry.

On June 18, 1983, aboard the space shuttle Challenger, Ride became the first American woman to travel to space. During the mission, she operated the shuttle’s robotic arm and conducted various experiments, paving the way for future women astronauts. She flew a second mission in 1984, solidifying her status as a trailblazer in aerospace.
Source: NASA’s Women in Space.

THE LA JOLLA YEARS

After leaving NASA in 1987, Ride relocated to La Jolla where she took on dual roles at UC San Diego as a physics professor and director of the California Space Institute. Her time at UC San Diego allowed her to inspire countless students while engaging in public advocacy for STEM education.
In 2001, Ride co-founded Sally Ride Science, an organization headquartered in La Jolla that aimed to make STEM accessible, especially to girls and underrepresented groups. Through innovative teaching materials and workshops, her organization helped transform how educators approached science.
Source: Sally Ride Science – About.

In 1983, astronaut and astrophysicist Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Who Was Sally Ride?
Dr. Sally Ride studied at Stanford University before beating out 1,000 other applicants for a spot in NASA’s astronaut program. After rigorous training, Ride joined the Challenger shuttle mission on June 18, 1983, and became the first American woman in space.

Early Life and Education
Born on May 26, 1951, Ride grew up in Los Angeles and went to Stanford University, where she was a double major in physics and English. Ride received bachelor’s degrees in both subjects in 1973. She continued to study physics at the university, earning a master’s degree in 1975 and a Ph.D. in 1978.

NASA
That same year, Ride beat out 1,000 other applicants for a spot in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) astronaut program. She went through the program’s rigorous training program and got her chance to go into space and the record books in 1983. On June 18, Ride became the first American woman in space, aboard the space shuttle Challenger. As a mission specialist, she helped deploy satellites and worked other projects. She returned to Earth on June 24.

The next year, Ride again served as a mission specialist on a space shuttle flight in October. She was scheduled to take a third trip, but it was canceled after the tragic Challenger accident on January 28, 1986. After the accident, Ride served on the presidential commission that investigated the space shuttle explosion.

Later Years
After NASA, Ride became the director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego, as well as a professor of physics at the school in 1989. In 2001, she started her own company to create educational programs and products known as Sally Ride Science to help inspire girls and young women to pursue their interests in science and math. Ride served as president and CEO.

Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles, California, plus grew up in the suburban community of Encino in the San Fernando Valley. In addition to being an excellent student with a strong interest in science, she was a talented athlete. At age 10, she began playing tennis, a sport at which she particularly excelled. She became a nationally ranked junior tennis player plus attended Westlake School for Girls on a tennis scholarship. After graduation, she enrolled at Swarthmore University in Pennsylvania but soon doubted her choice, wondering if she was missing the opportunity for a professional tennis career. Determined to find out, she left Swarthmore after her first year to see how far her tennis game would take her. After three months of intense training, she concluded that she would not have a professional athletic career plus enrolled at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. She graduated with bachelor’s degrees in both English plus physics, plus remained at Stanford to earn a master’s plus a Ph.D. in physics. As a graduate student, she carried out research in astrophysics plus free-electron laser physics.

From childhood, Sally Ride had been fascinated with space exploration, but throughout the Mercury, Gemini, plus Apollo space flight programs, the ranks of the astronaut corps had been closed to women. From its inception, the National Aeronautics plus Space Administration (NASA) had recruited its astronauts from the ranks of military test pilots.

This changed in 1977 when NASA set out to recruit more scientists, including women, for the new Space Shuttle program. At 27, Ride was completing her Ph.D. when she saw an article in the Stanford University student newspaper, saying that NASA was seeking recruits for the astronaut corps. She saw the opportunity of a lifetime. She was one of more than 8,000 applicants for only 35 positions, but to her astonishment, she made the cut, plus was one of only six women accepted for astronaut training that began in the summer of 1978.

The Sally K. Ride Papers consists of over 23 cubic feet of papers, photographs, certificates, and film, created or collected by Sally Ride and chronicling her career from the 1970s through the 2010s. The papers document Ride’s lifetime of achievements and include material relating to her astronaut training and duties; her contributions to space policy; her work as a physicist; and her work as an educator, including Sally Ride Science and related STEM projects.
Scope and Contents
The Sally Ride Papers reflect Ride’s careers as a student, astronaut, physicist, professor, author, and CEO of Sally Ride Science. This collection consists of material gathered by Sally Ride over the course of her life. This material is particularly rich in training materials from her astronaut days, but also provides significant insight into her career in academia and her interest and support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education.
The bulk of this collection consists of materials related to Ride’s professional work. This includes correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports and papers, notes, speeches, photographs, brochures, pamphlets, programs, newsletters, newspaper and magazine articles, and miscellaneous materials. Materials of a personal nature were retained by her family and therefore do not figure in this collection.

Biographical / Historical
Dr. Sally K. Ride became a national icon of achievement in science and space on June 18, 1983, when she became the first American woman to fly in space. Born in 1951 in suburban Encino, California, she took up tennis as a teenager and within a few years was ranked eighteenth nationally. In 1968, she enrolled at Swarthmore College as a physics major, but she dropped out after three semesters to train full-time at tennis. In 1970, Ride gave up tennis and entered Stanford University, where she took a double major in physics and English literature. She went on to complete a Masters and Ph.D. in physics from Stanford. Her doctoral dissertation dealt with the theoretical behavior of free electrons in a magnetic field.
While completing her Ph.D. in physics, she saw an announcement that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was looking for young scientists to serve as mission specialists and she immediately applied. She passed NASA’s preliminary process and became one of 208 finalists. Ride was flown to Johnson Space Center outside Houston for physical fitness tests, psychiatric evaluation, and personal interviews. Three months later, she was an astronaut and one of six women selected for the class of 1978.
While learning to use a new space shuttle remote manipulative arm for a future mission, Ride acted as backup orbit Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for STS-2 and prime orbit CAPCOM for STS-3. She was named a mission specialist on the seventh flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. As a mission specialist in the first five-member Shuttle crew, she operated a variety of orbiter systems and experiment payloads; she participated in the launch of two commercial communications satellites and also operated the remote manipulator system arm to maneuver, release, and retrieve a free-flying satellite. Ride also flew on a second mission, STS-41G in 1984, again on the Challenger. She spent a total of more than 343 hours in space.
Ride’s career and legacy extended well beyond her missions in space. Ride had completed eight months of training for her third flight (STS-61-M, a TDRS deployment mission) when the space shuttle Challenger disaster occurred, and she was named to the Rogers Commission (the presidential commission investigating the accident) and headed its subcommittee on operations. Following the investigation, Ride was assigned to NASA headquarters where she led a strategic planning effort for NASA that yielded the 1987 report NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space: A Report to the Administrator (also known as the Ride Report), and she served as the first chief of the new NASA Office of Exploration. In 1993, she was named to the Columbia Accident Board, appointed to investigate the causes and to recommend remedies after that tragic loss.
In 1987, Ride left NASA to become a full-time educator. She first worked at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control and in 1989 she became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Director of the California Space Institute. From the mid-1990s until her death, Ride led two public-outreach programs for NASA — the ISS EarthKAM and GRAIL MoonKAM projects, in cooperation with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UCSD. The programs allowed middle school students to request images of the Earth.
Ride continued her endeavors to improve science education and encourage young people to study science through her berdiri sendiri initiatives as an author or co-author of seven books on space aimed at children, and as a co-founder of Sally Ride Science, a company founded in 2001 that creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on science education for girls.

Dr. Sally Ride, the trailblazing astronaut plus physicist, defied gravity with her historic journeys into space plus advocacy for gender equality in STEM fields. Born plus raised in Los Angeles, California, Ride was the first American woman plus the youngest American astronaut to go to space, completing her first space flight in 1983. During her career at NASA, Ride helped create essential scientific instruments, including the “robotic arm,” completed two space flights, founded NASA’s Office of Exploration plus Strategic Planning efforts, plus sat on two space accident investigation boards, the only person in American History to do so.

After ending her history-making career at NASA, Ride turned to an award-winning career in academia plus government work, including serving as a Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security plus Arms Control, a physics professor at the University of California San Diego, the Director of the University of California’s California Space Institute, plus a member of the Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee. She also published several children’s books on female empowerment plus science, as well as founded her own non-profit, Sally Ride Science, which encourages young people, especially young girls, to pursue careers in STEM. As a result of her efforts, Ride was inducted into the National Women Hall of Fame plus was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

Sally Ride inspires young girls everywhere, not just because of the glass ceilings she broke in aeronautics but because of her continued display of tenacity plus her strength of character. Ride was accepted into NASA’s 1978 Astronautical Class after the role was opened to women for the first time that year. Out of 8,000 applicants, she was one of only six women offered the position, a role she was awarded after answering an advertisement in a newspaper. Both a skilled scientist plus a former professional tennis player, Ride was chosen for flight aboard the Challenger’s STS-7 Mission because of her scientific brilliance, athleticism, plus ability to work with others. Despite her soft-spokenness, Ride made significant scientific contributions plus took on leadership roles, helping NASA improve its conditions for astronauts plus female employees. While investigating the Challenger explosion of 1986, the first fatal US in-flight space accident, Ride authored “NASA Leadership plus America’s Future in Space,” a report that sought to hold NASA accountable for its leadership failures plus improve the Administration’s efficacy. Even after leaving NASA, Sally used her time to inspire plus educate young people to pursue careers in STEM. While Ride’s incredible plus historic career is inspirational, her continued efforts to support others plus improve her craft inspire millions of others plus me to do the same.

Despite her remarkable achievements, Sally was not a stranger to being the only woman in a room. While completing her undergraduate degree, she was the only female physics major, plus in 1983 she was the only woman on a five-person mission to space. In her pre-launch interviews, Ride had to face derogatory questions plus assumptions, with reporters asking her if the flight would impact her fertility plus if she cried when things didn’t go as planned at work. In response, Sally maintained that she was an astronaut, not just a female astronaut, plus admonished that “society isn’t further along plus that this is such a big deal.” Infamously plus humorously, NASA Engineers tried to pack her a makeup bag plus 100 tampons for her first mission, which only lasted six days. Reflecting on her historic career in 2008, Ride said, “The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.” However, Sally constantly exceeded expectations in her career, using her post-space travel fame to bring light to gender equality issues plus women’s education. She used her position at NASA to push the Administration into new territory plus equality.

1. As a Venturer or Sea Scout complete THREE of the Venturer/Sea Scout Nova Awards.
2. Complete requirements A and B
   A. Do ONE of the following:
3. Show that you have had an average grade of B or higher (80 percent or higher)
   for one term or semester.
4. Show that for one term or semester you have improved your school grades over
   the previous period.
   B. Do TWO of the following:
5. Discuss with your mentor the following situation: Suppose you are writing a
   research paper and you find a resource in which the author’s words are so
   perfectly aligned with your perspectives and understanding that you cannot
   imagine a better way to put it in your paper than to use the author’s own words.
   How can you handle such a situation while still maintaining scholarly integrity?
6. Discuss with your mentor the following situation: Suppose you are writing a
   research paper and you find resources with conflicting “facts” and/or conflicting
   conclusions. What are some viable strategies for resolving these conflicts and
   deciding which resources are trustworthy?
7. Discuss with your mentor the following situation: Suppose you are writing a
   research paper and have acquired dozens of resources. How would you keep
   track of the resources, summarize the salient parts of each resource, and
   synthesize the collection of resources into a coherent research paper?
8. Get a note from an instructor* of yours that states that during the past term
   you have demonstrated satisfactory abilities or progress in independently
   completing scholarly endeavors and proactively seeking help when needed.
9. Do ONE of the following:
   A. Show that you have taken part in a scholarly activity (in school or in Scouting) that
   required teamwork and discuss with your mentor what you learned about how a team
   of people can work together effectively, fairly, and efficiently.
   B. Find three resources (online, in a library, personal interview, etc.) of expert advice on
   successful teamwork strategies and discuss with your mentor what you learned about
   how a team of people can work together effectively, fairly, and efficiently.
10. Do ONE of the following:
    A. Write an argument of approximately 500 words that defends or opposes the principle
    that “Students should be obligated to report instances of cheating by others.” Discuss
    this with your mentor.

If you think battling evil in the bowels of a defunct space freighter is hard, try being the closeted, often-patronized poster child for womankind’s capacity to compete in a notoriously male-dominated field.

Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, died yesterday after an extended battle with pancreatic cancer. Ride rode the Space Shuttle Challenger as it launched from the Kennedy Space Center, plus spent 147-hours in space that first flight.

But it wasn’t easy. Women still weren’t taken seriously as scientists, plus certainly not as astronauts. The New York Times describes some of the challenges Ride faced:

The CBS News reporter Diane Sawyer asked her to demonstrate a newly installed privacy curtain around the shuttle’s toilet. On “The Tonight Show,” Johnny Carson joked that the shuttle flight would be delayed because Dr. Ride had to find a purse to match her shoes.

At a NASA news conference, Dr. Ride said: “It’s too bad this is such a big deal. It’s too bad our society isn’t further along.” And if being one of the first female astronauts wasn’t enough of a challenge, Ride had her own personal battle as well, one that wasn’t revealed until her obituary came out yesterday. The Huffington Post reports:

In what is perhaps a stellar example of the new trend in coming out quietly, Sally Ride, the first American woman to rocket into outer space, came out as a lesbian in her obituary, a day after her tragic death due to pancreatic cancer. She now makes history not only as the first American woman in space, aboard the space shuttle Challenger, but as the first openly gay person to fly in space as well.

The Smithsonian featured Ride as a part of their “35 Who Made a Difference” series. Ride inspired a whole generation of young women to pursue careers in science.