When Sally Ride was growing up in Los Angeles, she pictured herself as a tennis champion. She would have been amazed to learn her future. At the age of 32, she became the first American woman to go into space.
On a tennis scholarship, she went to a private high school for girls. Then she played professional tennis for a little while. But soon she decided she’d rather go to college. She went to Stanford University where she studied physics and English.
Neither of Ride’s parents were scientists. Still, they had taught her to be curious and love all kinds of learning. It turned out she had an amazing aptitude for physics. She went on to get a doctorate degree from Stanford. Her name was now Dr. Ride. And NASA wanted to hire her.
NASA was looking for six women to train as astronauts. Thousands of women were interested. Because Dr. Ride was very intelligent and also physically fit, NASA chose her. She entered their training program in 1978. A year later, she was ready to go to space. Her title was Mission Specialist.
Training to become an astronaut was challenging and difficult work. Dr. Ride learned to work without gravity. She also had to spin rapidly in a big machine to help her body get used to the extreme motion that she would experience when the space shuttle launched.
To relax between training sessions, Dr. Ride pursued many hobbies. She still enjoyed playing tennis. Volleyball was another of her favorite sports. For quiet times, she collected stamps.
After training, her first job for NASA was serving as capsule communicator as part of the ground support crew. She helped the astronauts on the shuttle stay in touch with NASA engineers. Finally, in 1983, she was chosen to go on a mission. At age 32, she was the first woman and the youngest person to travel in space.
The space shuttle was called Challenger. The crew was sent up to place satellites over Canada and Indonesia. Dr. Ride used a giant robotic arm to move the satellites into position.
She went up in the Challenger on a second mission in 1984. On that trip, she stayed in space for nine days. She was supposed to return a third time in 1986. Tragically, the Challenger exploded during another launch. Her planned mission was canceled. While she never returned to space again, she continued working for NASA. She served on the Presidential Commission that investigated the Challenger accident.
In 1989, Dr. Ride became a Professor of Physics and Director of the University of California’s California Space Institute at the University of San Diego. In pursuit of her passion of inspiring young women to pursue careers in science, math, and technology, she founded her own company, Sally Ride Science. Her company fostered professional development for teachers, offered online classes, and held conferences and events. One of the opportunities Dr. Ride’s program offered was the operation of a camera to let students take photos of Earth from space and use them in their studies. It was used by over 600,000 students and their teachers in 80 countries. Dr. Ride also wrote five books for kids about space flights.
Dr. Ride died in 2012. NASA honored her by naming a spot on the moon after her. The U.S. Navy named a research ship after her, and in 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Her company, Sally Ride Science, was integrated into UC San Diego as a non-profit foundation. Dr. Ride continues to inspire girls through her achievements and legacy.