Research Paper On Sally Ride

Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles, California on May 26, 1951. She grew up during a time of great change in America, especially for women and their rights. After she graduated high school she enrolled in Swarthmore College where she stayed for three semesters before transferring to Stanford University, majoring in both English and physics. After she graduated with her bachelor’s degree, she stayed at Stanford to earn her master’s degree in physics and eventually her doctorate.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) put an advertisement in the Stanford student paper looking for women astronauts in 1977. Sally Ride applied for the program and was chosen as one of six women picked. She began training to become astronauts

soon after. On June 18, 1983 Ride became the first American woman in space when she set out for the moon on the space shuttle Challenger. On the space shuttle her job was to work to robotic arm, which she used to position satellites. Although she was not the first woman on space, she was the first American woman to go to space and the press was extremely interested. They asked silly questions such as if she would be able to use the bathroom in space and if she could pull her hair back without gravity helping her. These questions illustrate how simple-minded people were back then and it is unfortunate that they did not realize that women are just as capable as men.
Sally Ride went on one more trip into space in 1984 on the Challenger again. She was scheduled for another trip and was training for it, but it was canceled due to the fatal Challenger accident in 1986. Ride was then on a committee that examined the accident. She stopped working for NASA in 1987 and worked at the University of California in San Diego. She was the director of the California Space Institute and a physics professor. Later in her career she focused on STEM education for women, started her own company to create programs to inspire girls. She created products called Sally Ride Science, encouraging girls to focus on science and math. Ride tried to keep her personal life private, but after her death it was revealed that she had a partner named Tam O’Shaughnessy, making Sally Ride the first known LGBTQ astronaut.