Dates: May 26, 1951 -
Known for: first American woman in space
Occupation: astronaut, scientist, physicist, writer
Also known as: Sally K. Ride, Sally Kristen Ride, Sally Kirsten Ride, Mrs. Steven A. Hawley
Background, Family:
- Mother: Carol Joyce (Anderson) Ride
- Father: Dale Burdell Ride
- Siblings: Karen, a minister
Marriage:
- Steve Hawley (married 1982; divorced)
Education:
- Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
- Stanford University: B.S. Physics and B.A. English, 1973; Ph.D. astrophysics, 1978
About Sally Ride:
A California native, Sally Ride studied physics and English at Stanford University. She had been a nationally ranked tennis player, but chose science and college over a tennis career.
Applying to NASA's training program for astronauts on an impulse in 1978, Sally Ride became one of six women of 35 trainees chosen. She was a capsule communicator at mission control for the second shuttle mission. Sally Ride was chosen as a member of the space shuttle's seventh mission in 1982, and she became the first American woman astronaut when the space shuttle Challenger took off on June 18, 1983.
Sally Ride later flew, also on the Challenger, on the thirteenth space shuttle flight; on that flight, Ride's friend, Kathryn Sullivan, became the first American woman to walk in space.
Sally Ride was in training for a third shuttle mission when the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January, 1986, with its crew aboard. Ride was appointed to the Presidential Commission investigating the accident, the only astronaut on that commission. She then worked for NASA's administration, creating the Office of Exploration and producing a report on the space program's future.
Briefly married to a fellow astronaut, Sally Ride left NASA in 1987, teaching physics first at Stanford then at the University of California, San Diego.
Sally Ride has written several books, including two for children. In 1992, she was a member of the transtion team for president-elect Bill Clinton. Sally Ride was president of the website Space.com for a year, 1999-2000.
Bibliography :
- Ride, Sally and Tam O'Shaughnessy. The Mystery of Mars. 1999. Fiction, ages 9-12.
- Ride, Sally and Susan Okie. To Space and Back.1986. Ages 9-12.
- Camp, Carole Ann. Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space. Age: young adult.
- Hopping, Lorraine Jean. Sally Ride: Space Pioneer. 2000. Ages 9-12.
- Hurwitz, Jane and Sue Hurwitz. Sally Ride: Shooting for the Stars. 1989. Ages 9-12.
- Stott, Carole. Into the Unknown.
- Verheyden-Hilliard, Mary E. Scientist and Astronaut: Sally Ride.1985. Ages 9-12.
More About Sally Ride:
- Categories: Astronaut, physicist
- Organizational Affiliations include: EarthKAM, Imaginary Lines, NASA, Space.com
- Religion: Presbyterian
- Places: United States
- Period: 20th century
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