Sally Ride

Date of Birth: May 26, 1951

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Date of Death: July 23, 2012

Biography

Sally Ride was a pioneering American astronaut, physicist, and engineer, best known for being the first American woman to travel into space. Born in Los Angeles, California, she attended Stanford University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973. She also went on to receive a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford. In 1978, Ride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA, and in 1983 she made history aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger during the STS-7 mission. She flew again on the STS-41-G mission in 1984. After her spaceflights, Ride worked at NASA headquarters and later served on the panels investigating the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. Sally Ride was also an advocate for STEM education, especially for young girls. She co-founded Sally Ride Science, an organization that creates educational programs and publications aimed at encouraging students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Ride was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

5 Interesting Facts about Sally Ride

1. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, making her historic flight in 1983.

2. She was also the youngest American astronaut to travel to space at the age of 32.

3. Ride was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.

4. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003.

5. Sally Ride has an elementary school named after her in Germantown, Maryland – Sally K. Ride Elementary School.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Sally Ride

1. “The stars don’t look bigger, but they do look brighter.”

2. “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

3. “Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It’s posing questions and coming up with a method. It’s delving in.”

4. “I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.”

5. “The view of Earth is spectacular.”