Sally Ride, 1951-2012

Sally-Ride-WWP

Photo credit - WWP team

The first American woman astronaut in space.



Sally Ride was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She was an athletic child who also loved science, but her passion for tennis began when she was nine, while on a year-long family trip in Europe. In addition to practicing tennis professionally, she also focused on her studies, graduating high school with the aspiration to become an astrophysicist.

Ride got accepted to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania on a full scholarship, winning the Eastern Intercollegiate Women’s Singles championship in 1968 and 1969. After three semesters, she transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, aiming to become a professional tennis player. Soon, she realized she didn’t have what it took to be the best and decided to focus on her studies.

Ride moved to Stanford University and graduated in 1978 with a Ph.D. in physics and astrophysics.

In 1977, Ride came across an advertisement in the students’ newspaper that NASA was recruiting scientists for the Space Shuttle program. She applied and got accepted into NASA Astronaut Group 8, one of 35 out of 8000 applicants.

While in training, she started a relationship with Steven Hawley, also a member of Group 8. They got married in 1982 (divorced five years later).

On June 18th, 1983, Ride took off on the Space Shuttle Challenger and became the first American woman in space and the third woman in history. She returned to space for her second and last mission in 1984.

Ride left NASA in 1987 to pursue an academic career. Two years later, she was appointed a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and director of the California Space Institute, retiring from Cal Space in 1996 and UCSD in 2007.

Her passion for space and longtime desire to encourage youngsters, especially girls, to study science and technology led her to participate in several educational programs, including the EarthKam and GRAIL MoonKAM projects in collaboration with NASA. These projects have enabled people to view, request and use pictures of the Earth and moon from space. She also co-established “Sally Ride Science” (2001), which promotes and educates teachers and students in STEM.

She died from cancer in 2012.

Sally Ride - The First American Woman In Space | Mini Bio | BIO

Watch a short biography of Sally Ride, who became the first American Woman in space as part of the Challenger shuttle mission on June 18, 1983. #Biography
Subscribe for more Biography: http://aetv.us/2AsWMPH

Delve deeper into Biography on our site:
http://www.biography.com

Follow Biography for more surprising stories from fascinating lives:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Biography
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/biography
Twitter - https://twitter.com/biography

Biography.com captures the most gripping, surprising, and fascinating stories about famous people: The biggest break. The defining opportunity. The most shattering failure. The unexpected connection. The decision that changed everything. With over 7,000 biographies and daily features that highlight newsworthy and compelling points-of-view, we are the digital source for true stories about people that matter.

Sally Ride - The First American Woman In Space | Mini Bio | BIO
https://www.youtube.com/user/BiographyChannel

Share:

This post is also available in:
Español

 

“If girls are interested, they have the potential to go further.”

“If girls are interested, they have the potential to go further.”

Fun Facts

  • In 1972, she played in a doubles match against Billie Jean King, who was ranked the world's number 1 female tennis player.
  • On her second mission, she carried a white silk scarf that Amelia Earhart used to wear.
  • She spent over 343 hours in space.
  • She served on panels that investigated the Challenger disaster and the Columbia disaster.
  • Several US presidents offered her the position of NASA Administrator, but she declined it every time.
  • From 1985 till her death, she was in a relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy, who co-founded Sally Ride Science.
  • She was the youngest American person to visit space (at the age of 32) and the first known LGBTQ astronaut (as was revealed after her death).
  • She published an autobiography and five children's books to introduce and fascinate them with science and space.
  • Several schools, streets, and a satellite are named in her honor.
  • She is the first known LGBTQ person to appear on a US currency.

Awards

  • National Space Society's von Braun Award
  • The Lindbergh Eagle
  • NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award
  • Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under
  • Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame
  • Awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal twice

Creations By and About Her

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

Watch and Learn More



Visit Her Landmark

Sally Ride - The First American Woman In Space | Mini Bio | BIO

Watch a short biography of Sally Ride, who became the first American Woman in space as part of the Challenger shuttle mission on June 18, 1983. #Biography
Subscribe for more Biography: http://aetv.us/2AsWMPH

Delve deeper into Biography on our site:
http://www.biography.com

Follow Biography for more surprising stories from fascinating lives:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Biography
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/biography
Twitter - https://twitter.com/biography

Biography.com captures the most gripping, surprising, and fascinating stories about famous people: The biggest break. The defining opportunity. The most shattering failure. The unexpected connection. The decision that changed everything. With over 7,000 biographies and daily features that highlight newsworthy and compelling points-of-view, we are the digital source for true stories about people that matter.

Sally Ride - The First American Woman In Space | Mini Bio | BIO
https://www.youtube.com/user/BiographyChannel
Share:

This post is also available in: Español

Category: Academy & Education, Activism & Feminism, and Science & Technology
Tags: Astronaut, LGBTQ, Scientist, The Pioneering Women of the National Mall Neighborhood, and WDC Metro Area Women

Hidden

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
Check out this fun, inspiring, and challenging activity about extraordinary women.
You'll also be subscribing to our monthly newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime.

Shop & Support


Donate & Support
 
Our feminist project of wanderlust and equality-aspired community maps the HerStories of worldwide wonder women.
Explore the website for excellent guided tours, travel tips, unique landmarks, fun girlfriend getaways, events, and in-depth articles about gender, equality, space, and (not-told-enough) female legacy.

About the Project

 

Subscribe to
our Newsletter

Abigail-Smith-Adams-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Abigail Adams, 1744-1818

A Founding Mother of the United States, a Women’s Rights Advocate, and the Second First Lady.

Abigail Smith was born and raised in Massachusetts. Her father was a liberal minister, her mother was a member of the famous Quincy family mother, and she had two sisters. At a time when women were not allowed to receive a formal education, she was homeschooled and satisfied her appetite for knowledge at the family’s library, forming progressive views. After a two-year courtship, she married John Adams, a country lawyer, and became his closest advisor and partner. They settled in the house John had inherited from his father in Braintree, MA. When his practice expanded, John had to frequently travel while Abigail managed their finances, investments, household, and growing family. For a while, they even moved to Boston next to his practice. Between 1784 and 1788, Abigail joined John in his diplomatic missions in Paris and London. On March 4th, 1797, John became the second president of the United States, and she was the first lady. They lived in the Presidential Mansion in Philadelphia and later in the White House in Washington, DC. She was a politically active first lady, made frequent public appearances, and was involved in the decision-making process, paving the way for future first ladies to be proactive figures. When John lost presidential re-election, the family retired to Peacefield in Quincy in 1800. During his frequent travels before and during the presidency, the couple corresponded in more than 1100 letters, where Abigail demonstrated her talent for writing and opinionated spirit. In one of those letters, she urges her husband to consider women’s rights in the new legislation after independence, warning that if not given equal representation: “women will rebel.” He dismissed her suggestion by writing back that it makes him laugh, but her words “remember the ladies” became an iconic feminist slogan. Before her death, she wrote a will favoring her female relatives. It was an act of protest against the laws prohibiting married women from owning assets. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Adelaide-Johnson-WWP
Arts

Adelaide Johnson, 1859-1955

A feminist artist and sculptress, known as “The sculptor of the women’s suffrage movement.”

Born as Sarah Adeline Johnson in Plymouth, IL, to a family of farmers. She received her education attending rural schools, and after graduation, she began her art training, taking classes at the St. Louis School of Design. She was only 18 years old when she exhibited her artworks at the 1877 St. Louis Exposition, and thanks to the prizes she won, she was able to move to Chicago and make a living from her art. At 23, on her way to her studio, she fell 20 feet into an open elevator shaft. She was severely injured, but the compensation fee she was awarded enabled her the financial freedom to study sculpture and painting in Europe. As a feminist and women’s rights activist, she expressed her political views in her art. Among the many individual busts she sculptured, were busts of the Suffrage Movement’s leaders – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott, which she presented in the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 (The busts are currently located at the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument Museum). She wanted to put the busts as a group monument at the US Capitol Rotunda but did not get the support at that time. After the 19th Amendment was ratified, she got the funding from the philanthropist Alva Belmont and the commission from the National Woman’s Party. She went to Italy to bring an 8-ton piece of marble to her studio and created her most famous artwork – “Group Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.” The statue was dedicated in a special ceremony on Susan B. Anthony’s birthday, February 15th, 1921, in the US Capitol. This was the pick of Johnson’s career. During the 1930s, her career declined, and she had financial problems. In 1939, 80 years old Johnson invited the press to witness how she destroys her own artworks as a protest against her living conditions as well as against her shattered dream of opening a studio-museum honoring the suffragists and women’s rights organizations. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Adrienne-Rich-WWP
Literature & Poetry

Adrienne Rich, 1929-2012

An award-winning American poet, essayist, and feminist thought influencer, who was called “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century.”

During her long and productive career, Rich published more than 30 books of poetry and essays. In her writing, she explored issues of gender, racism, consumerism, class privilege, and politics. She was considered a radical figure in Second Wave Feminism, yet she was accepted by the institutions, won many awards, and is now considered a classic. The first one was for the collection of poetry, which she published at 22. The same year she graduated from Radcliffe College. Adrienne Cecile Rich was born in Baltimore, MD, and over the years she taught English, poetry, and creative writing at several institutions, including Swarthmore College, Columbia University, City College of New York, and Scripps College in Claremont. Among her most influential works, were two texts that dissected heterosexuality and motherhood as socially constructed institutions. In both cases, she provided a critical perspective toward every woman’s freedom to choose. In the case of Compulsory Heterosexuality, for example, she presented the notion of Lesbian Continuum as an alternative way of thinking about the variety of relationships between women. Both in her poetry and her non-fiction writing, the honestly spoke of taboos, like that of motherhood. In her book “Of Woman Born”, she points out to the difference between motherhood as an experience and an imposed political institution. Her mother was a concert pianist who put her career aside to raise her family, while her father developed his career as an academic. Rich embodied the feeling that she was the benefactor of her mother’s sacrifice. When awarded the 1973 National Book Award, she declared that she accepted it on behalf of all women and shared it with her fellow nominees, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde. In 1997 she refused the National Medal of Arts, she did so to express her critique of the Clinton administration. Her famous quote from the refusal letter stated: “art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage”. By her thirties, she was married and had three children. After her husband’s suicide, she had a relationship with novelist and poet Michelle Cliff. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alice-Paul-WWP
Law

Alice Paul, 1885-1977

A leader for women’s rights and famous for promoting a federal constitutional amendment for woman suffrage.

Alice Paul was born to a wealthy Quaker family on a small New Jersey farm. As Quakers, her parents supported gender equality, including education for women. From a young age, she developed a passion for reading and learning. After graduating high school, top of her class, she studied biology at Swarthmore College, where she was a member of the Executive Board of Student Government. It sparked her interest in political activism, and she moved to NYC to complete a fellowship at the College Settlement House social work. She went on to study and gain multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. in sociology and three law degrees. During a fellowship in England, Paul became involved with the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in London, first selling Suffragist magazines on street corners and then, alongside fellow American suffragette Lucy Burns, organized events, campaigns and established the Scottish branch of the organization. She learned militant protest tactics, such as picketing and hunger strikes, and became known as one who put herself in danger in public events to increase the visibility of the movement. Despite the violent experience of 7 arrests, 3 imprisonments, and 4-week force-feeding, campaigning for the cause of suffrage became her life mission. Upon her return home in 1910, Paul joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She became a central figure in organizing the 1913 Women March in Washington the day before President Wilson’s inauguration, in which about 8000 women marched through Pennsylvania Avenue, viewed by a half million people, many of them harassing and heckling the marchers. In 1916, Paul’s militant approach created tension between her and the NAWSA, and she left to found the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The following year, she stood wearing a white dress and holding purple and gold banners as part of the Silent Sentinels – the first political picket in front of the White House. She was arrested but did not receive the special treatment she was supposed to as a political prisoner, living in harsh conditions and poor sanitation. With her fellow suffragist prisoners, Paul embarked on a hunger strike, for which she was transferred to the prison’s psychiatric ward, being tied up and forced fed. Her methods led to the end of the long struggle of the US suffrage movement, with the ratification of the 19th amendment, granting the legal voting right for women. After women’s suffrage was achieved, Paul moved her efforts to the international arena: co-founding the World Woman’s Party and lobbing for gender equality. She then went back to national politics, drafting the Equal Rights Amendment, which is still in the process of ratification during the 21st century. In 1945, she lobbied for the inclusion of the equality for women clause in the United Nations proclamations, and at the age of 79, she ensured that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had a ‘protection for women’ paragraph. Paul was considered professionally demanding and personally conservative, including being criticized for elitism and racism within the suffragist movement. Among the many biographies of her life, little is mentioned about her personal life. Paul passed away at 92 years old in New Jersey. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
View all

 

*Disclaimer: Please be aware that the information on this page is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. Learn more here.