SALLY RIDE
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger on STS-7. She flew in space a second time, also on Challenger, in 1984 - STS-41G.
Sally was born in Encino, California on May 26, 1951. She won a tennis scholarship to West Lake School for Girls in Los Angeles, and it looked as if she would follow a career as a professional tennis player. She began to attend Swarthmore College, but dropped out to pursue tennis. After a few months of strenuous practicing and training... Sally decided that she was not good enough to be a successful pro and enrolled at Stanford University.
In 1978, after earning a B.A. in english, B.S. in physics, and Master's degree (also in physics), she was looking for doctoral opportunities when she found out about NASA's hunt for female astronauts. She applied and was accepted as one of 35 new astronaut candidates. 8,000 men and women applied for the astronaut corps that year - Sally and five others were the only women selected.
Sally was training for her third spaceflight when Challenger exploded in January, 1986. She was appointed to the Presidential Commission researching the disaster and moved to Washington, D.C., and eventually became the NASA Administrator's assistant for long-range planning.
Dr. Ride retired from NASA in 1987, when she began a long career of promoting spaceflight and science to young women. She was appointed director of the California Space Institute and Professor of Physics at the University of California. She served as President of Space.com and founded several organizations to promote science, including the Sally Ride Club, EarthKAM, and Imaginary Lines. Sally has also written several books. She continues to participate actively in science endorsement.
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