Sally Ride

Sally Ride

Dr. Sally Kristen Ride (born May 26 1951 in Los Angeles, California) is an American former astronaut and astrophysicist who in 1983 became the first American woman to reach outer space.

With a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University, she joined NASA in 1978, where she was an astronaut (1979–1987) and helped design the robot arm for the space shuttle. In turn, she was the first person to use the robot arm in space. In 1983, she became the first American woman in space. She also served (1986, 2003) on the commissions that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters. In 1989, she became professor of physics and director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego. Sally started playing tennis at age 10, and became an excellent tennis player. She even went to college for it. She did attend another college, but dropped out because she wanted to keep working for a professional tennis career. After 3 months of hard practice she decided she was not good enough to make it to a professional career and so she quit tennis and enrolled at Stanford University. That year, more than 8,000 men and women applied to the NASA space program. Only 35 women were accepted. One of those 35 was Sally. There she enjoyed flight traing so much that it became a favorite hobby. Her second flight was a 8 day trip in 1984, again on Challenger(STS 41-G). Her hours in space flight were more than 343. Sally was preparing for her 3rd journey when the Challenger disintegrated in 1986. When training was suspended, she was appointed to the Presidential Commission charged with investigating the situation. Dr.Ride retired from NASA in 1987 to become a Science Fellow at the Center of International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University.