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Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles in 1951. While completing her PhD

in physics at Stanford University, she read in a student newspaper that

NASA was recruiting astronauts, and for the ﬁrst time, women could

apply. Ride was one of 8,000 applicants and one of six women selected

by NASA in 1978.

While training for her ﬁrst spaceﬂight, Ride endured intense media

attention focused on her gender. She insisted on being treated the same

as any other astronaut. On June 18, 1983, she blasted oﬀ aboard the space

shuttle

Challenger

to become America’s ﬁrst woman in space. During the

ﬂight, Ride used

Challenger’s

robotic arm to capture a satellite hurtling

around Earth. Her historic ﬂight made her a symbol of women’s ability to

break barriers and an inspiration to generations of adventurous girls.

Ride ﬂew aboard the

Challenger

again in 1984 and later led a task force

that wrote an inﬂuential report on America’s future in space. After leaving

NASA in 1987, she became a physics professor. She cowrote science books

for young people and cofounded a company, Sally Ride Science, to inspire

students in math and science.

Ride died in 2012. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential

Medal of Freedom.

SALLY RIDE

PHYSICIST, ASTRONAUT AND ENTREPRENEUR