RIP Dr. Sally Ride 1951-2012
NPR reports that the first US woman in space has died:
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. She blasted off aboard Challenger, culminating a long journey that started in 1977 when the Ph.D candidate answered an ad seeking astronauts for NASA missions.
Ride died today in La Jolla, Calif. after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, her company said on its website.
There is more information in the NASA announcement.
After leaving NASA and academia, Dr. Ride formed a company that primarily promoted science and technology as a career choice for girls and women.
9 comments
she was always one of my heroes. thank you, sally ride.
She was definitely ‘good people’, people willing to risk it all for something they believe in.
She inspired millions of little girls to dream of reaching for and traveling to the stars.
God Speed, Sally.
She definitely did everything full throttle when she set her mind on it, and she had to put up with a lot of crap to get into space, which she did with grace.
She had such a wonderful smile… it made it look so much fun to be an astronaut. She was wonderful.
I was amazed that she pulled off without punching out anyone’s lights, given the ‘pink treatment’ she received from the press. She had a PhD in physics from Stanford, and survived astronaut training, but articles about her kept appearing in the ‘Style’ section of the media.
One of the quiet things that were in her obituary (which she apparently wrote before she died) is that she is survived by Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, whom she had known for 40 years since they’d met as children. She never “came out” as gay while she was alive, just as she never “came out” as a pancreatic cancer sufferer. Apparently she thought who she loved was nobody else’s business, just like her final illness was nobody else’s business. BTW, her sister “Bear” (a nickname) is as kick ass as her sister Sally was. Heh.
BTW, the “pinkwashing” to me appeared to be an effort by the press to deny the obvious, just as they tried to “pinkwash” the WNBA even though it is pretty obvious to almost anybody that a significant number of WNBA players are not into guys at all. Just another example of how the press is run by dinosaurs who are continually behind the times.
The corporate media is at least two generations behind the times and reality, with which they have little, if any, contact. Private lives should be private. If you bring your family into the public light, as many ‘conservatives’ feel obligated to do, then you can’t call it private after the fact.
Sally Ride saw an opportunity to be a role model for girls and she took up the challenge. The world is a better place because she did.