“Sally was a very private person who found herself a very public persona. It was a role in which she was never fully comfortable.”
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Sally Ride
Sally Kristen Ride was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Southern California, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983, became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space. She was the youngest American astronaut to have flown in space, having done so at the age of 32.
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science · American physicist and astronaut (1951–2012) · physicist · astronaut · astrophysicist · writer · university teacher · children's writer · also Sally Ride, Dr Sally Kristen Ride, Sally Ride- Hawley, Sally K. Ride, Ride
Born 26 May 1951 · Died 23 July 2012 · Q49285
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Open for Questions with Astronaut Sally Ride
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient - Tam O'Shaugnessy on Behalf of Sally Ride
Listen
Sally Ride (As Told By NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Ellen Stofan)
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2026· 3 entries
Public attention spiked: 7,644 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5× the usual 1,518, with 0 article edits.
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Public attention spiked: 96,958 Wikipedia readers in one day, 63.9× the usual 1,518, with 39 article edits. Editors noted: In popular culture Adding We Didn't Start the Fire which mentions Ride in the 9th verse.
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2025· 2 entries
Yahoo: ‘Sally’ Review: Doc on Astronaut Sally Ride Is Both Enlightening and Discomforting
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National Geographic premiered a documentary called Sally, telling the story of Ride's professional and personal life, primarily through her hidden relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy
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2023· 3 entries
USA Today: Sally Ride made history 40 years ago. Her legacy lives on through NASA's Artemis program.
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Yahoo: Remembering Sally Ride — 40 years after she shattered the glass ceiling on the way to space
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Another statue of Ride was unveiled, outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
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2022· 3 entries
Artnet: Sally Ride Was the First U.S. Woman to Go to Space. Now, She Is the First Female Astronaut to Be Honored With a Public Monument
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A satellite named after Ride (ÑuSat 27 or "Sally", COSPAR 2022-033R) was launched into space as part of the Satellogic Aleph-1 constellation
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A statue of Ride was unveiled outside the Cradle of Aviation Museum
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2021· 2 entries
Poynter rated the claim “NASA sent Sally Ride to space with 100 tampons” Mostly Legit.
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Ride was featured in the second season of the Apple TV+ streaming series For All Mankind, where she was played by Ellen Wroe
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2020· 1 entry
Snopes rated the claim “In advance of her 1984 mission aboard the space shuttle Challenger, NASA engineers asked Sally Ride if 100 tampons would be enough for two weeks in space.” True.
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2019· 1 entry
Mattel released a Barbie doll in Ride's likeness as part of their "Inspiring Women" series
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2018· 1 entry
And Ride appeared as one of the first two honorees of the American Women quarters series in March 2022, the first known LGBT person to appear on U
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2014· 1 entry
The first vessel in the research fleet to be named after a female scientist, and delivered to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2016
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2013· 2 entries
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Barack Obama (2013).
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And President Barack Obama announced that Ride would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States
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2012· 5 entries
The two GRAIL probes, Ebb and Flow, were directed to complete their mission by crashing on an unnamed lunar mountain near the crater Goldschmidt
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Gizmodo: R.I.P. Sally Ride, an astronaut who changed the future
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Died 2012-07-23.
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At the age of 61, at her home in La Jolla
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When her obituary identified O'Shaughnessy as her partner of 27 years
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2011· 1 entry
O'Shaughnessy noted that she looked ill, and had her book a doctor's appointment; a medical ultrasound revealed a tumor the size of a golf ball in her abdomen, which was found to be pancreatic cancer
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2008· 1 entry
And was contacted by Lori Garver, the head of Barack Obama's transition team for NASA in 2008, but once again made it clear that she was not interested in the post of NASA administrator
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2007· 3 entries
Awarded National Aviation Hall of Fame (2007).
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SpaceNews: Sally Ride Science Festival for Girls Returns to Caltech
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And the Educate to Innovate initiative in 2009, and was a member of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee, which conducted an independent review of American space policy requested by the Office o
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2006· 1 entry
Awarded California Hall of Fame (2006).
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2005· 1 entry
Awarded Theodore Roosevelt Award (2005).
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2003· 1 entry
Ride served on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and was the only person to serve on both the panel that investigated the Challenger disaster and the one that investigated the Columbia disaster
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2000· 1 entry
Awarded Library of Congress Living Legend (2000).
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1989· 1 entry
Ride became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and director of the California Space Institute (Cal Space), part of the university's Scripps Institution of Oceanography
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1988· 1 entry
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (1988).
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1986· 1 entry
Ride provided a glowing reference for her friend, and eventual biographer, Lynn Sherr for NASA's Journalist in Space Project
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1985· 1 entry
Awarded International Space Hall of Fame (1985).
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1983· 1 entry
Ride became the first American woman to fly in space, and the third woman overall
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1982· 1 entry
In the backyard of Hawley's parents' house in Salina, Kansas
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1981· 1 entry
Ride began dating Steven Hawley, another one of the TFNGs
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1979· 2 entries
NASA announced that the 35 astronaut candidates had completed their training and evaluation, and were now officially astronauts, qualified for selection on space flight crews
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Served as the ground-based capsule communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights, and helped develop the Space Shuttle's robotic arm
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1978· 2 entries
Received a phone call from George Abbey, NASA's director of flight operations, who informed her that she had been selected as part of NASA Astronaut Group 8
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And in 1983, became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space
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1975· 1 entry
And Ride moved in with Bill Colson, a fellow graduate physics student who was recently divorced
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1973· 2 entries
A Master of Science degree in 1975, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1978 (both in physics) for research on the interaction of X-rays with the interstellar medium
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With a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature
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1971· 1 entry
And 1972 they were counselors at Dennis Van der Meer's TennisAmerica summer camp at Lake Tahoe, Nevada
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1960· 1 entry
When she was nine years old, the family spent a year traveling in Europe
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1951· 2 entries
In Santa Monica, California, the elder child of Dale Burdell Ride and Carol Joyce Ride (née Anderson)
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Born 1951-05-26.
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