Sally Ride

• STS -7 ( 1983)
• STS 41 -G ( 1984)

Sally Kristen Ride ( born May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, † July 23, 2012 in La Jolla, California ) was an American astrophysicist and astronaut. She was the first American woman in space, and by the cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Sawizkaja the third woman to have completed a space flight.

Life

Ride was born in 1951 as the daughter of a political science professor and a counselor of a women's prison in Encino, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, where she spent her childhood. Ride to 1968 attended the Westlake School for Girls, today's Harvard - Westlake School. During this time she was a successful tennis player who has been sponsored by Billie Jean King. She completed her studies began on private Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, but then moved to Stanford University in Palo Alto, where she received in 1973 two Bachelor degrees in English and physics. Then she specialized in astrophysical questions and laser applications. In 1975, she earned a master's degree in physics and a doctorate three years later.

NASA activities

Ride competed in 1977 as Astronaut Associate at NASA and was taken in January 1978 in the eighth astronaut group. These were the first trainee astronauts since August 1969 and the first to be appointed for the new Space Shuttle program. First time, women were selected by NASA; next ride among this group of five other women.

After completing her general training astronauts to mission specialist Ride worked in the control center in Houston, Texas as Capcom, where she oversaw the shuttle missions STS -2 in November 1981 and STS -3 in March 1982.

Your own first space flight took place Ride in June 1983 as a member of mission STS -7 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, and thus became the first American to reach orbit. At its launch on 18 June, she was 32 years and 23 days old and presented so well as the valid to date record as the youngest U.S. spaceman on.

In October 1984 was followed by a second space flight as part of the STS- 41 -G, also on board the Challenger. Overall, it was more than 343 hours in space. 1985 Ride was scheduled for a third space flight as a member of the mission STS -61- M, which was however deleted without replacement after the Challenger disaster in January 1986.

After the Challenger disaster Ride by U.S. President Ronald Reagan was appointed along with Neil Armstrong, headed by William P. Rogers Commission investigation of the accident. She then moved to the NASA headquarters in Washington DC and took over the management of a working group (eg Mars Pathfinder ) dealt with the long-term planning of future projects of NASA. After her death, it was revealed that she had been the NASA internal source of information about the faulty O -rings, which ultimately enabled the Commission a successful completion of the investigation.

According to the NASA

In 1987, Ride left NASA to work at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University in Palo Alto.

Then Ride took their research activities in the field of astrophysics again and eventually became a professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego. At times, it was in June 1989, director of the California Space Institute at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Ride focused on high energy physics and worked on theories of plasma and interstellar matter. In 2001 she founded her company Sally Ride Science, which offers educational materials for children about the universe.

After the crash of the space shuttle Columbia Ride was appointed to the Commission of Inquiry of the accident in 2003. She was thus the only person who belonged to two accident commissions.

Sally Ride was the author of several books on space issues, including the children's book To Space and Back. She was particularly involved in the promotion of young scientists in girls. In the United States, it was often due to their awareness guest speaker at events and occasionally performed in television shows (eg, Sesame Street ) and on commercials. For her book The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space 1995 she received along with her ​​friend and business partner Tam O'Shaughnessy the Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics.

Honors

Sally Ride is mentioned in Billy Joel's song "We Did not Start the Fire" from 1989, are enumerated in the important events of contemporary history ..

In honor of Sally Ride was the spot on the moon, smashing planned on the 17 December 2012, the two probes of the GRAIL mission, named after her.

In April 2013, the U.S. Navy that is under construction research ship USNS Sally Ride (T- AGOR -28) named after her.

On November 20, 2013 were the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded posthumously Sally Ride by President Obama.

Private

Ride was married 1982-1987 with the astronaut Steven Hawley. The marriage was childless. From 1985 until her death she led a relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy, with whom she was already friends as a child. Ride died July 23, 2012, from pancreatic cancer.

Records and firsts

• First American woman in space (STS -7)
• First US- American, who was twice in space (STS -41 -G)
• Youngest U.S. astronauts ( age at start: 32 years and 23 days)