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sally ride first woman in space |
v Her life
In Los Angles, California, on May 26, 1951, Sally Kristen
Ride was born. Little did her parents Dale and Joyce Ride know that she would
be the first American woman in space. Ride might not have even become an
astronaut at all if her parents hadn't believed in not conforming to the
'normal' standards of life as women. She also had a younger sister named Karen.
But when Karen was born Ride had trouble saying that name so she called her
Bear.
Ride had a very interesting childhood. She was very
interested in the outdoors and was a natural athlete. She also loved the
Dodgers and wanted to be a shortstop. Another interesting part was the trip her
family took to Europe. Her father quit his job and they sold their house to go.
When they were touring in Spain, she fell in love. . . with tennis! She was a
natural and studied with Alice Marble, a Wimbleton star who worked with a lot
of the excellent tennis players who became famous. She became so good, she
placed 18th in the junior tennis circuit competition and could have been a
professional.
Once Ride returned home, she rediscovered her love for
science. She then, at age 15, went to Westlake School for Girls. There she got
a tennis scholarship. No one suspected that she would become the first woman in
space. And all the while, she played tennis. Tennis taught her self-control,
self-discipline, to have a good demeanor, and to control her emotions (some of
the time, at least!). But then she had to choose between her two loves, tennis
and physics. Ride decided that she wasn't good enough for tennis pro. And with
this choice she went to Swathmore College on the east coast to study
astrophysics. She finally decided she belonged in California.
Once again, Ride tried to get a tennis career going, but
still couldn't get the strength to be as good as she needed to be to become a
professional. She then went to Stanford University to get a career in physics
up and running. While she was in her senior year at Stanford, Ride became
exhausted with all the science being pushed into her brain. So she took an
English and literature class, causing her to discover Shakespeare. And so it
was that in 1973, Ride earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and a
Bachelor of Science in Physics, along with a doctorate. In 1975, Ride earned a
master's degree. In 1977, Ride had almost completed her Ph.D..
Ride prepared herself in life to be a teacher, like her
father. And when she became an astronaut, she got into it for the science. The
very next year Ride was chosen as an astronaut after reading a magazine ad
saying that NASA needed young scientists to become mission specialists. She was
on Missions 7 and 13 in 1983 and in 1984. In 1986, Ride was on the committee
investigating the disaster involving the shuttle Challenger. In 1987, Ride
wrote a proposal to establish a lunar base. Also in this year she joined
Stanford's Center for International Security and Arms Control. In 1989, Ride
became head of the Space Institute of the University of California in San
Diego.[1]
v Women reach space
After receiving her acceptance
as an astronaut in January, 1978, Sally Ride began a 1-year training &
evaluation period she underwent extensive training that included parachute
jumping, water survival, gravity & weightlessness training, radio
communications & navigation. She completed this in August, 1979. This made
her eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle
flight crews. She subsequently performed as an on-orbit capsule communicator
(CAPCOM) on the STS-2 & STS-3 missions.
In 1983, Dr. Sally Ride became the first
American woman in space as an astronaut on the shuttle Challenger. She was a
mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL, on
June 18. She was accompanied by Captain Robert Crippen (commander), Captain
Frederick Hauck (pilot), & fellow mission specialists Colonel John Fabian
& Dr. Norman Thagard. This was the second flight for the Challenger &
the first mission with a 5-person crew. During the mission, the STS-7 crew
deployed satellites for Canada & Indonesia; operated the Canadian-built
Remote Manipulator System to perform the first deployment & retrieval
exercise with the Shuttle Pallet Satellite; conducted the first formation
flying of the orbiter with a free-flying satellite; carried & operated the
first U.S./German cooperative materials science payload; & operated the
Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System & the Monodisperse Latex Reactor
experiments, in addition to activating seven Getaway Specials. Mission duration
was 147 hours before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base,
California, on June 24, 1983.
After establishing an historic feat by becoming
the first American woman in space, her next flight was an eight-day mission in
1984, again on the Challenger, when she served as a mission specialist on STS
41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 5. This was
the largest crew to fly to date & included Captain Robert Crippen
(commander), Captain Jon McBride (pilot), fellow mission specialists, Dr.
Kathryn Sullivan & Commander David Leestma, as well as two payloads
specialists, Commander Marc Garneau & Mr. Paul Scully-Power. Their 8-day
mission deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific
observations of the earth with the OSTS-3 pallet & Large Format Camera, as
well as demonstrating potential satellite refueling with an EVA &
associated hydrazine transfer. Mission duration was 197 hours & concluded
with a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 13, 1984.
In June 1985 Dr. Sally Ride was assigned to
serve as a mission specialist on STS 61-M. When Challenger exploded in January,
1986, she terminated mission training in order to serve as a member of the
Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.
Upon completion of the investigation she was
assigned to NASA HQ as Special Assistant to the Administrator for long range
& strategic planning. She was responsible for the creation of NASA's
"Office of Exploration" & produced a report on the future of the
space program, "Leadership & America's Future in Space."
Retiring from NASA in 1987 Dr. Sally Ride
accepted a position as a Science Fellow at the Center for International
Security & Arms Control at Stanford University. In 1989, she was named
Director of the California Space Institute & Professor of Physics at the
University of California, San Diego.
After working with the Internet companies,
space.com & EarthKAM, Dr. Sally Ride’s most recent endeavor is Imaginary
Lines, an organization founded to provide support for all the girls who are, or
might become, interested in science, math & technology. One instrument of
this mission is the Sally Ride Club, created for upper elementary & middle
school girls across the country.[2]
v Huge expectations
Ride was a mission specialist on her first mission, STS-7, which put the Canadian Anik C-2 and the Indonesian Palapa B-1 communication satellites into orbit. In an 2008 interview timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the flight, Ride acknowledged that her status as the first American woman "carried huge expectations along with it."
"I didn't really think about it that much at the time ...
but I came to appreciate what an honor it was to be selected to be the first to
get a chance to go into space," she said.
Thousands of spectators wore T-shirts and buttons emblazoned
with the slogan "Ride, Sally, Ride" on launch day.
Ride made a second space shuttle flight in 1984, also aboard
Challenger, and was in training for her third mission when Challenger exploded
in 1986, killing all seven crew members. She left the space agency a year
later, and served for years as a physics professor and director of the
California Space Institute.
In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science, a which is aimed at
promoting math and science for girls. One of her projects was to develop a
camera that could fly aboard spacecraft and take pictures for middle-school
students. The fruits of those efforts include EarthKAM on the International Space Station and MoonKAM on
the GRAIL lunar probes.
Investigated two tragedies
Ride was the only person to serve on both of the investigative boards for NASA's two shuttle tragedies, the Challenger explosion as well as the 2003 loss of Columbia and its crew. She was also a member of the commission that laid out space policy options for the Obama administration in 2009. That panel's conclusions led the White House to cancel a plan to send astronauts back to the moon, known as the Constellation program, and instead set the nation's sights on exploring near-Earth asteroids, leading eventually to missions to Mars.
Ride was the only person to serve on both of the investigative boards for NASA's two shuttle tragedies, the Challenger explosion as well as the 2003 loss of Columbia and its crew. She was also a member of the commission that laid out space policy options for the Obama administration in 2009. That panel's conclusions led the White House to cancel a plan to send astronauts back to the moon, known as the Constellation program, and instead set the nation's sights on exploring near-Earth asteroids, leading eventually to missions to Mars.
When the commission completed its report, Ride bristled over the
limitations that NASA's exploration efforts faced. "This budget is just
simply not friendly to exploration," she said. "It's very difficult
to find an exploration scenario that actually fits within this very restrictive
budget guidance that we've been given."
The announcement of Ride's death noted that she is survived by
her partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy, who is the chief operating officer
and executive vice president for content at Sally Ride Science. Other survivors
include her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin; and her
nephew, Whitney. Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steven Hawley in 1982,
but they divorced in 1987 with no children.
Hawley, who is now a professor of physics and astronomy at the
University of Kansas at Lawrence, remembered Ride in a NASA statement as
"a very private person who found herself a very public persona."
"While she never enjoyed
being a celebrity, she recognized that it gave her the opportunity to encourage
children, particularly young girls, to reach their full potential," Hawley
said. "Sally Ride, the astronaut and the person, allowed many young girls
across the world to believe they could achieve anything if they studied and
worked hard. I think she would be pleased with that legacy."[3]
v Awards & honors
Ride received numerous awards,
including the National Space Society's
von Braun Award, the Lindbergh Eagle, and the NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award.
She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall
of Fame and was awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal twice. Ride was the only person
to serve on both of the panels investigating shuttle accidents (those for
theChallenger accident and the Columbia disaster). Two elementary schools in
the United States are named after her: Sally K. Ride Elementary School in The
Woodlands, Texas, and Sally K. Ride Elementary School in Germantown,
Maryland.
On December 17, 2012,
the two GRAIL probes, 'Ebb' and 'Flow', were directed to complete their mission
by impacting on an unnamed mountain near the crater Goldschmidt. NASA announced
that they would be naming the landing site in honor of Sally Ride, who was a
collaborator on the mission.
In 2013, the Space
Foundation bestowed its highest honor, the General James E. Hill Lifetime Space
Achievement Award, on Sally Ride
Ride died on July 23,
2012, at age 61, seventeen months after being diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer.[18][19][20][2] Following cremation, her ashes were interred next to her
father at Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica, California.[4]
References
[1] http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112623/ride.html
[2]
http://space.about.com/od/formerastronauts/a/sallyridebio.html
