Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space

The cover of Lynn's Sherr's book about Sally Ride called "Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space." 

Credit: Simon & Schuster

Lynn Sherr, the author of the recently-released biography, "Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space," paid tribute to the late astronaut Thursday (Oct. 2) on the allegedly, satirical, US news program "The Colbert Report."

The nearly 7-minute interview covered everything from the Space Race to Ride's unique place in history as NASA's first female astronaut.

Colbert started the interview by asking Sherr why NASA didn't prioritise getting women into space when the Russian space agency had sent two women to space before Sally Ride flew to orbit for the first time in the 1980s.

"NASA didn't think that women were a priority," Sherr replied.

"First there was the race to get to the moon … but before Sally Ride flew, the only three females NASA had flown were two spiders and a monkey."

Ride flew to space during a NASA shuttle mission for the first time in 1983. She died at 61 in July 2012 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Ride is the first known lesbian astronaut, a fact that was never revealed by NASA.

It was only after her death that it was revealed she was gay and had a long standing partnership with Tam O'Shaughnessy, a professor emerita of school psychology at San Diego State University and childhood friend.

O'Shaughnessy was also a science writer and, later, the co-founder of Sally Ride Science and now serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of the organisation.

Navy Christens Research Ship for Sally Ride

Dr. Tam O'Shaughnessy, ship's sponsor for the Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) research vessel (R/V) Sally Ride (AGOR 28), breaks a bottle across the bow during a christening ceremony at Dakota Creek Industries, Inc., shipyard in Anacortes, Washington, on Aug. 9, 2014. 

Credit: U.S. Navy/John F. Williams

The U.S. Navy has honored America's first woman in space, christening its newest research ship after the late astronaut Sally Ride.

Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's life partner and successor as chief executive officer at the science education company Sally Ride Science, broke the traditional champagne bottle across the bow of the R/V Sally Ride during the naming ceremony held at the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard in Anacortes, Washington on Saturday (Aug. 9).

"For the United States of America, I christen thee 'Sally Ride,'" O'Shaughnessy stated just before striking the bow. "May God bless this ship and all who sail in her."

Joining O'Shaughnessy at the event were Bear Ride, the astronaut's sister, and Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk, who today serves as the undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administrator.

First US Woman in Space: NASA Astronaut Sally Ride

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7. 

As one of the three mission specialists on the STS-7 mission, she played a vital role in helping the crew deploy communications satellites, conduct experiments and make use of the first Shuttle Pallet Satellite. 

In this image, Dr. Ride sits in the aft flight deck mission specialist's seat during deorbit preparations. 

 › Read more about Sally Ride's historic flight. 

Image Credit: NASA

The Legend and Name of Sally Ride Lives on as AGOR ship

Prof Sally Ride

The United States Navy's first academic research ship to be named after a woman will be christened R/V Sally Ride after NASA's first female astronaut to fly in space.

She became the first American woman to enter space in a low Earth orbit in 1983, a full twenty years after the Soviet Union's first woman astronaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Dr Sally Ride left NASA in 1987 to work as a Professor at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control and had served on the investigation panels for two space shuttle disasters (Challenger and Columbia)—the only person to serve on both.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Friday (April 12) the next ocean-class Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) ship will be named the R/V Sally Ride.

"As secretary of the Navy, I have the great privilege of naming ships that will represent America with distinction as part of the fleet for many decades to come," Mabus said in a statement revealing the names of seven ships, including the Sally Ride.

"These ships were all named to recognise the hard working people from cities all around our country who have contributed in so many ways to our Navy and Marine Corps team."

Mabus named the future R/V Sally Ride in memory of the astronaut, who also served as a professor, scientist and innovator at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California in San Diego. Scripps will operate the R/V Sally Ride when it enters the Navy's fleet in 2015.

Dr Sally Ride, 65, died on July 23, 2012, as a result of pancreatic cancer.

The R/V Sally Ride, a Neil Armstrong-class AGOR ship, is the U.S. Navy's first research vessel named after a woman. 

It is named after the late great Prof Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.

CREDIT: Department of Defense

Valentina Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than four hundred applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.

It took NASA and the US Adminstration a further 20 years to finally approve of women astronauts. Until that time they were thought NOT capable of the Right Stuff!

NASA Astronaut Sally Ride Comes Out after her Death

The late astronaut Sally Ride, the First US Woman in Space, came out of the closet this week with neither a bang nor a whimper, but with a quiet, matter-of-fact phrase released after her death that identified Tam O'Shaughnessy, a former science teacher and science writer, as her partner of 27 years.

Ride's sister, Bear, told the Seattle Times that Sally "never hid her relationship with Tam" but cited the pioneering astronaut's sense of privacy as the reason she never came out with fanfare while she was alive.


But Daily Beast writer Andrew Sullivan criticized the first American woman in space not coming out sooner.

Ride "had a chance to expand people's horizons and young lesbians' hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to," Sullivan wrote on Tuesday.

It is sad that such a high achiever and courageous explorer should be forced to keep her sexuality hidden for so long.

Ride (pictured left) passed away this week at age 61 after a battle with pancreatic cancer and now more is coming out about her accomplished partner Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy (pictured right), a professor emerita at San Diego State University and chief operating officer and executive vice president of Ride’s foundation, Sally Ride Science

Like Ride, O’Shaughnessy was also interested in science from an early age.

She earned bachelors and masters degrees in biology from Georgia State University, taught college biology and eventually earned a doctorate degree in school psychology from the University of California, Riverside.

She has written nine children’s science books and helped found Sally Ride Science “because of her long-standing commitment to science education and her recognition of the importance of supporting girls' interests in science," according to the foundation’s website.

Sally Ride - First US Woman in Space Dies

Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.

Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science.

She was a private person and the details of her illness were kept to just a few people, she said. Ride rode into space on the shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32.

After her flight, more than 42 other American women flew in space, Nasa said. "Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," president Barack Obama said.

"People around the world still recognise her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing Nasa," Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander, said. "She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job."

When Ride first launched into space, feminist icons such as Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda were at Kennedy Space Centre and many wore T-shirts alluding to the pop song with the refrain of the same name: "Ride, Sally Ride."

Nasa administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism - and literally changed the face of America's space programme".

He added: "The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers." Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company.

She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California in San Diego. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978, beating out five women to be the first American female in space.

Her first flight came two decades after the Soviets sent a woman into space. "On launch day, there was so much excitement and so much happening around us in crew quarters, even on the way to the launch pad," Ride recalled in a Nasa interview for the 25th anniversary of her flight in 2008.

"I didn't really think about it that much at the time - but I came to appreciate what an honour it was to be selected to be the first to get a chance to go into space."

Ride flew in space twice, both times on Challenger in 1983 and in 1984, logging 343 hours in space. A third flight was cancelled when Challenger exploded in 1986.

She was on the commission investigating that accident and later served on the panel for the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident, the only person on both boards. She also was on the president's committee of science advisers.

Personal treasure: NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Commemoratice Medallion

The truth be told, I do not spend all my spare time gazing at the stars, much as I enjoy that part of my life, I also spend a few lost hours each week trawling through the local charity shops.

I have a keen and eclectic interest in art and sculpture, which also includes glass and ceramics.

Although, more and more of these shops are going over to women's clothes and accessories, I do find some interesting treasures now and again.

This week I was delighted and amazed to come across this bronze Shuttle medallion.

I was delighted, because it is such a memento of many historic moments in space exploration, and amazed because it was so far away from it's point of manufacture.

Each Shuttle mission was pioneering and, in itself, historical but I was surprised to see the extensive list shown.

This particular medallion commemorates the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger's historic STS 41G mission, launched on October 5, 1984.

The mission crew members' crew Photograph and mission Patch are shown below.

The Patch contains the names of the crew; Commander Robert L. Crippen, Pilot Jon A. McBride, Mission Specialist Kathryn D. Sullivan, Mission Specialist Sally K. Ride, Mission Specialist David C. Leestma, Canadian Payload Specialist Marc Garneau (CSA), Payload Specialist Paul D. Scully-Power.

Shuttle Mission 410G was memorable because it was;

• First Seven Member Crew, 
• First In-Flight Re-fuelling of a satellite, 
• First US flight with 2 women crew, 
• Dr Sullivan who became the first US woman to walk in space (EVA), 
• Marc Garneau who was the first Canadian (CSA) crew member,

 

NASA Launching Into History - Sally Ride, First US Astronaut in Space

On June 18, 1983, a young physicist from California took her seat aboard the space shuttle and launched into history. 

On that date, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a mission specialist on STS-7. In this image, Ride monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the flight deck.

Image Credit: NASA

Nasa GRAIL Captures Moon's Far Side [VIDEO]

Nasa has captured its first unique view of the moon's far side with its lunar spacecraft Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL).

In the Nasa video, which runs for around 30 seconds, the north pole of the moon is clearly seen. Also visible is Mare Orientale, a vast impact basin which looks like a target ring in the bull's eye; it is believed to be over three billion years old and spans about 950 km.

The video also shows the Drygalski crater with a distinctive star-shaped formation in the middle. It is a central peak which was created many billions of years ago by a comet or asteroid impact and covers around 149 km.

According to Nasa scientists, the video was taken by Grail which comprises two identical spacecraft, recently named Ebb and Flow, each of which is equipped with a MoonKAM. The images were taken as part of a test of Ebb's Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students (MoonKAM). It will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study.

MoonKAM is a programme organised by Nasa which gives a chance to students to learn more about the moon. Tens of thousands from fifth to eighth grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the MoonKAM Mission Operations Center (MOC).

Photos of the target areas will be sent back by the GRAIL satellites and made available in the images section of the website. Students will use the images to study lunar features such as craters, highlands, and maria while also learning about future landing sites.

The programme is led by Dr. Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California, San Diego.

The MoonKAM mission will begin in 2012 when Grail satellites are in orbit around the Moon and the dedicated MoonKAM cameras are activated. The mission will last approximately 80 days.

"The quality of the video is excellent and should energise our MoonKAM students as they prepare to explore the moon," said Maria Zuber, Grail principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

"We have had great response from schools around the country; more than 2,500 signed up to participate so far," said Sally Ride, astronaut from the Nasa.

"In mid-March, the first pictures of the moon will be taken by students using MoonKAM. I expect this will excite many students about possible careers in science and engineering."

Sally Ride NASA US Astronaut - Launching Into History

NASA - Launching Into History

On June 18, 1983, a young physicist from California took her seat aboard the space shuttle and launched into history.

On that date, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a mission specialist on STS-7. In this image

Ride monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck.

Unfortunately this was a full 20 years after the USSR cosmonauts, due to rampant masogyny in the US and NASA.

Image Credit: NASA