Sally Ride
OUT OF THIS WORLD. Ride was honored after her death in various ways. Her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy wrote a children’s biography and NASA has named the spot on the moon where probes Ebb and Flow landed after her. Late in 2017, the United States Postal Service announced that Ride would appear on a stamp in 2018.
Sally Ride was born in 1951 in Encino, California. She attended Stanford University where she double majored in physics and english.
After college, Ride beat out 1,000 other applicants for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) aeronautical program.
The beginning of her aeronautical career began on the ground, but after completing rigorous training, Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983.
Her missions included operating the shuttle’s robotic arm. After her foray into space, Ride stayed involved by serving on the boards that investigated the space shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia in 1986 and 2003, respectively.
After leaving NASA, she continued to be active in the field by creating Sally Ride Science, a science outreach company that encouraged girls to pursue the sciences. Following her death in 2012, former President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
