Today is Sally Ride Day!

Ride was an American physicist and astronaut.  She joined NASA in 1978 and was the first American women in space in 1983.  On the flight, she was a mission specialist.  Her job was to operate the robotic arm, go on space walks, and conduct science experiments.  Using the robotic arm, she released satellites into space.

Prior to her mission Ride was accosted by the press with silly questions like, “Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?” and “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?” In response, Ride insisted she saw herself in only one role – that of an astronaut.

Ride left NASA in 1987 and went to work at the Stanford University Center of International Security and Arms Control.  Two years later, she became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego and director of the California Space Institute.

With her partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, Ride wrote five books for children about science and space.   She particularly wanted to help girls understand science and mathematics.  Until her death in 2012, she was involved in science programs and festivals in the United States.  Sally Ride Day was created in honor of her birth date May 26, 1951.

Sally Ride’s Books