23 - California, Sally Ride
Sally Ride did the unimaginable. She was every kids' fantasy. Boy … and girl.
California was the 18th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. And, they did it on November 1, pretty close to today, November 5.
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space in 1983. Joining NASA in 1978, she flew on the Orbiter Challenger twice before leaving in 1987. Her selection to NASA Astronaut Group 8 was the first class to select women. She was selected with 34 other people (out of 8,000 applicants). Waiting for her flights, she worked as a mission specialist and developed the “Canadarm” robot arm.
Prior to her first flight, she was asked press questions that itemized her gender, targeting preconceived issues on gender such as emotional states. But she persevered and did not let the attention distract her knowledge that this is an important role. People attending the launch of STS-7 wore shirts saying the lyrics, “Ride, Sally Ride!”
In preparing for her third mission, the Challenger disaster occurred. She participated in the investigations of the Challenger and again later for the Columbia shuttle disasters, and is noted for providing key information on the cause of the Challenger explosion.
Following her leaving NASA, she was a professor of Physics at Stanford, where she was an alumni researching nonlinear optics and Thomson scattering, and UC San Diego. Her master’s degree and PhD doing research on the interaction of X-rays with the interstellar medium.
Ms. Ride kept much of her personal life a secret. Following her death in 2012, she became known not just as the first American woman astronaut, but the first LGBT. Her partner was a life long friend.
They supported each other in every endeavor.
But hid it.
Why this woman?
Everyone imagines being an astronaut when they grow up. I’m sure I had it on some second grade survey. I didn’t see it as an unattainable objective. It was out there. It was a future.
The Challenger explosion was one of my earliest memories. I remember the hype within the schools. A teacher, someone real and relatable, was going to space! And then tragedy. Sally not only watched like the world, but it was her vessel. She knew every bolt on it. She found the rubber ring failure. She was a woman, the first, that watched as others perished. It was a tragedy that she investigated and pondered because she knew she could help find answers.
Sally also lived a life in a time where she had to hide her real life. For her entire life. No one knew her truth until she left. In our time, would she have been more open or able to share. To live as Mrs. O’Shaunessey? Forty plus years of change. Only seven from her death. Have these past few years changed us?
California was the 18th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. And, they did it on November 1, pretty close to today, November 5.
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space in 1983. Joining NASA in 1978, she flew on the Orbiter Challenger twice before leaving in 1987. Her selection to NASA Astronaut Group 8 was the first class to select women. She was selected with 34 other people (out of 8,000 applicants). Waiting for her flights, she worked as a mission specialist and developed the “Canadarm” robot arm.
Prior to her first flight, she was asked press questions that itemized her gender, targeting preconceived issues on gender such as emotional states. But she persevered and did not let the attention distract her knowledge that this is an important role. People attending the launch of STS-7 wore shirts saying the lyrics, “Ride, Sally Ride!”
In preparing for her third mission, the Challenger disaster occurred. She participated in the investigations of the Challenger and again later for the Columbia shuttle disasters, and is noted for providing key information on the cause of the Challenger explosion.
Following her leaving NASA, she was a professor of Physics at Stanford, where she was an alumni researching nonlinear optics and Thomson scattering, and UC San Diego. Her master’s degree and PhD doing research on the interaction of X-rays with the interstellar medium.
Ms. Ride kept much of her personal life a secret. Following her death in 2012, she became known not just as the first American woman astronaut, but the first LGBT. Her partner was a life long friend.
They supported each other in every endeavor.
But hid it.
Why this woman?
Everyone imagines being an astronaut when they grow up. I’m sure I had it on some second grade survey. I didn’t see it as an unattainable objective. It was out there. It was a future.
The Challenger explosion was one of my earliest memories. I remember the hype within the schools. A teacher, someone real and relatable, was going to space! And then tragedy. Sally not only watched like the world, but it was her vessel. She knew every bolt on it. She found the rubber ring failure. She was a woman, the first, that watched as others perished. It was a tragedy that she investigated and pondered because she knew she could help find answers.
Sally also lived a life in a time where she had to hide her real life. For her entire life. No one knew her truth until she left. In our time, would she have been more open or able to share. To live as Mrs. O’Shaunessey? Forty plus years of change. Only seven from her death. Have these past few years changed us?
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