Swarthmore College University of California, Los Angeles Stanford University (BA, BS, MS, PhD)
Spouse
Steven Hawley
(m. 1982; div. 1987)
Partner
Tam O'Shaughnessy (1985–2012)
Awards
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013, posthumous)
Space career
NASA astronaut
Time in space
14d 7h 46m
Selection
NASA Group 8 (1978)
Missions
STS-7
STS-41-G
Mission insignia
Retirement
August 15, 1987
Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. She was the youngest American astronaut to have flown in space, having done so at the age of 32.
Ride was a graduate of Stanford University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature in 1973, a Master of Science degree in 1975, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1978 (both in physics) for research on the interaction of X-rays with the interstellar medium. She was selected as a mission specialist astronaut with NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first class of NASA astronauts to include women. After completing her training in 1979, she served as the ground-based capsule communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights, and helped develop the Space Shuttle's robotic arm. In June 1983, she flew in space on the Space ShuttleChallenger on the STS-7 mission. The mission deployed two communications satellites and the first Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-1). Ride operated the robotic arm to deploy and retrieve SPAS-1. Her second space flight was the STS-41-G mission in 1984, also on board Challenger. She spent a total of more than 343 hours in space. She left NASA in 1987.
Ride worked for two years at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control, then at the University of California, San Diego, primarily researching nonlinear optics and Thomson scattering. She served on the committees that investigated the loss of Challenger and of Columbia, the only person to participate in both. Having been married to astronaut Steven Hawley during her spaceflight years and in a private, long-term relationship with former Women's Tennis Association player Tam O'Shaughnessy, she is the first astronaut known to have been LGBT. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.
Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became...
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. Its high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments...
RV SallyRide (AGOR-28) is a Neil Armstrong-class research vessel owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography...
SallyRide Science at UC San Diego is a nonprofit run by the University of California, San Diego. It was founded as a company in 2001 by SallyRide, America's...
camp offered including those in Turkey and Canada. She also attended a SallyRide Summer Camp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Her...
ride in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Ride may refer to: MC Ride, a member of Death Grips SallyRide (1951–2012), American astronaut William Ride (1926–2011)...
force under the leadership of SallyRide was asked to formulate a new strategy for NASA. The report was issued in 1987. The Ride Report proposed four main...
SallyRide EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) is a NASA educational outreach program started in 1996. The program was initiated...
Irvin III Joseph II Irvin Deep Cotton Robinson GianArthur[a] 3:54 17. "SallyRide" Robinson Irvin III Joseph II Irvin Parker Jr. Deep Cotton Robinson GianArthur...
Sally Corporation (also known as Sally Dark Rides) is a dark ride and animatronic manufacturing company based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States...
balancing negative space. SallyRide, the first LGBT person on U.S. currency. Her partner Tam O'Shaughnessy said Ride's design by the Space Shuttle's...
New England Patriots 1994–present Incumbent Honorary titles Preceded by SallyRide Recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Award 2006 Succeeded by Paul Tagliabue...
Speech, starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Best also co-starred as SallyRide, the first American woman in space, alongside William Hurt in The Challenger...
and took graduate-level engineering courses. Inspired by the flights of SallyRide and Guion Bluford in 1983, Jemison applied to the astronaut program in...
Persisted series by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, She Persisted: SallyRide was released by Penguin Books in March 2021. Atia is a regular event speaker...
statue of NASA astronaut SallyRide was installed outside the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York, in 2022. Ride, the first American woman...
2019). "Barbie launches new 'Inspiring Women' dolls honoring Rosa Parks, SallyRide". WJLA 24/7 News. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved...
in Motion. The program was a success. Among those recruited were Dr. SallyRide, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel...
Global Information
