Astronaut Sally Ride dies

Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space in June 1983. After a second space shuttle flight, she got involved in promoting science amongst the younger generation. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61 on 23 July.

 

Sally Ride during her first flight in 1983 aboard space shuttle Challenger (STS-7 mission). Credit: NASA

 

“Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism, and literally changed the face of America's space program” said NASA’s Administrator Charles Bolden on hearing of the death of the first American woman to go into space.
Whereas the Soviets sent their first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into orbit in June 1963, the American Space Agency waited until its 1978 selection of astronauts before including its first female candidates (a total of 6 out of 35). Amongst them, was astrophysicist Sally Ride, born on 26 May 1951. On 18 June 1983, space shuttle Challenger blasted off from its launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center: aboard, Sally Ride became the third woman to go into space (19 years after Tereshkova, Soviet Svetlana Savitskaya blasted off in August 1982 to the Salyut 7 space station) and the first American woman to accomplish such a feat. This STS-7 mission released two telecommunications satellites and was, moreover, given massive media coverage due to the presence of the 32 year old astrophysicist. In NASA’s 2008 video below, Sally Ride recounts her experience as the first American woman to go into space.



Barely one year later, in October 1984, Sally Ride went back into Earth orbit for STS-41G mission, again on Challenger, which was to deploy the ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite) and carry out scientific experiments.

Sally Ride (right) with Kathryn Sullivan in October 1984 during the STS-41G mission aboard Challenger. The space shuttle had two women passengers for the very first time. Credit: NASA

Following the Challenger disaster in January 1986 (where the 7 crew members were killed at lift-off), she became a member of the Rogers Investigation Commission, together with other experts, in order to determine the causes of this tragedy. In 1987, the astronaut left NASA to pursue a very rich career with notably a position as a professor at the University of California and the publication of several books. In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science as a means of raising the awareness of the younger generation as regards science and engineering and of motivating them to study such subjects. The multiple actions and events organised in this way have gained wide recognition for their efficiency.

Sally Ride at the head of Sally Ride Science, an organisation designed to raise the awareness of the younger generation as regards science and engineering (photograph from 2007). Credit: Sally Ride Science

For instance, this organisation is involved in the MoonKam programme with the NASA’s Ebb and Flow probes which are currently orbiting the Moon. Thanks to its onboard cameras, MoonKam enables secondary school students to take photographs of our natural satellite and thus find out all about space exploration in a practical, fun way.
Sally Ride passed away on 23 July 2012 after losing a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Sally Ride’s biography on the Sally Ride Science website

Published on 24 July 2012