Sally Ride
1951–2012 · American (Los Angeles) · Cold War / Space Age
Known for: First American woman in space—flew on Challenger in 1983 and devoted her life to encouraging girls in STEM
Ride was a physicist who responded to a NASA newspaper ad and was selected from 8,000 applicants. She flew twice on the Challenger and was training for a third mission when Challenger exploded in 1986. She served on the investigation commission.
She was intensely private—her 27-year relationship with partner Tam O'Shaughnessy was revealed only after her death from pancreatic cancer. She founded Sally Ride Science to inspire girls in STEM. She was brilliant, competitive, and quietly feminist.
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