“Sally Ride”:
The First American Woman to Shoot for the Stars
Autumn Dorst
Senior Division
Historical Paper
Word Count: 2,499
1
Introduction:
“Three...Two...One...Liftoff.” These were the exact words that Sally Ride, the first
American woman to go into space, heard as the thrusters of the spaceship lifted her and her crew members into space. This was a monumental victory for many women as they saw the spaceship ascend into the sky with their dream of a better future. During the mid to late 1900s , women had many different freedoms , such as voting and going to college, however many didn’t decide to major in technology or engineering since it was still mainly designated as a “man’s field” during this period of time. Some women did earn degrees in STEM before Sally Ride was accepted into the space program, but in the late 1970s, after she graduated from the space program, the number
1 of women in college increased past the number of men . Sally Ride; the first American woman to enter space ; broke two main social barriers; gender and sexual orientation. Overall, she inspired women to approach the science field and earn degrees to better themselves and the United States of
America.
Historical Context of the Challenger Missions:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or more commonly called NASA, were the masterminds to launching the multiple Challenger missions that shattered many of
America’s barriers. The Challenger was able to successfully complete nine full missions until the
2 tenth mission ended in tragedy . However, many people are not aware of the missions prior to the disaster. To focus more on Sally Ride, the mission most pertaining to her was the STS-7, or the
1Lewis, Jone Johnson. “A Brief History of Women in Higher Education.” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 25 Mar. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/history-women-higher-ed-4129738
2 Gebhardt, Chris. “1983-1986: The Missions and History of Space Shuttle Challenger.” N ASA Space Flight , 28 Jan. 2011, www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/01/1983-1986-missions-history-space-shuttle-challenger/
2
Space Transport System-7. This was her first flight into space and she became the first American woman to depart into massive expanse. This mission was the second mission in the C hallenger series and the seventh space shuttle mission to occur. Along with this massive milestone, the first
American man to ever re-enter space, Richard L. Crippen, sat along side her, achieving another
American accomplishment. The flight launched on June 18th, 1983 at 7:33 EDT and the mission continued until June 24, when it successfully touched down at 6:56 PDT at the Edwards Air Force
Base and was later returned to the Kennedy Space Center for preparation to start the manufacture
3 of STS-7 . This was the first space mission to have an outlined end of mission (EOM), but it did not go as planned seeing as the Kennedy Space Center was undergoing poor weather conditions.
The spacecraft had to take two additional orbits to reassess the landing of the spaceship, which ended up at Edwards on Runway 15. Upon launching, the Challenger released two communication satellites, one for Canada and another for Indonesia. These satellites were used by
NASA and the crew to communicate with each other on different findings. However, there was another reason for this mission other than achieving milestones. Seven canisters of ant colonies were put up as well to see the effects that space has on the behavior of different populations. Sally
Ride also participated in one other Challenger mission and was scheduled for another, however ; the mission was cancelled after the explosion and she was added onto the investigation team.
Sally Ride’s Early Life:
4 Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951 in Encino, California . Her parents’ names
5 were Carol Joyce and Dale Burdell Ride and she also had a sister named Karen Ride . When Ride
3 Gebhardt, Chris. “1983-1986: The Missions and History of Space Shuttle Challenger.” N ASA Space Flight , 28 Jan. 2011, www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/01/1983-1986-missions-history-space-shuttle-challenger/ 4 “Sally Ride.” Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 24 July 2019, www.biography.com/astronaut/sally-ride 5 Ogle-Mater, Janet. “Who Was Sally Ride?” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 23 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/sally-ride-1779837 . 3 was young, her dream was to become a professional tennis player, a sport she had been playing
6 since she was ten years old . Her astounding ability granted her a scholarship to Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. Ride was ranked as one of the top 20 players in the Junior Tennis Circuit in her teens. After graduating from her high school, she went to Swarthmore College in
Pennsylvania. After experiencing one year of college, she dropped out and pursued her love of tennis and started a professional career in it. After three months of working her way to that career, she decided college was the more practical option for her, which led her to Stanford University.
She continued through school to receive a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973. She continued her education at Stanford University and went on to earn a
Master of Science and a doctorate degree in physics in 1975 and 1978. In 1977, she made the decision to apply at NASA to be a mission specialist that she had seen in a newspaper ad. Little did she know, she was going to be the first woman and the youngest astronaut to go into space.
Ride’s Experiences With NASA:
Sally Ride was one of the first women accepted into the astronaut program along with five
7 other women . NASA was encouraging women in their newspaper ad to apply for the position, which many decided to partake in. Overall, 1,000 men and women applied for the job, but only 6 women and 29 men were accepted into the program. Once accepted, Ride and the rest of her class had to go through rigorous training that consisted of parachute jumping and water survival training,
8 along with other technical and scientific training that related to her position . During Ride’s first
6 Anderson, Ashlee. “Sally Ride.” National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sally-ride . 7 Dunbar, Brian. “Who Was Sally Ride?” NASA, NASA, 12 May 2015, www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-sally-ride-k4.html . 8 Anderson, Ashlee. “Sally Ride.” National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sally-ride .
4 mission, she was hired as a mission specialist where she did many different jobs. She was in charge of launching the communication satellites as well as controlling the mechanical arm on the spacecraft. She also assisted in the experiments aboard the Challenger , such as the observational tests done on the ant colonies and their behavior changes due to the significant loss of gravity.
During the STS-41G mission, she spent slightly over a week observing Earth and recording what she noticed. During this mission she also worked on refueling techniques for shuttles. After that trip, she was scheduled for another trip but it was cancelled after the infamous Challenger
9 explosion in United States’ history . On January 28th, 1986, the STS-51-L “exploded” 73 seconds after takeoff, taking the lives of everyone on it. However, the cause was a bit more complicated than just saying it “exploded.” After further investigation, NASA declared that the craft hadn’t exploded. It was technically “engulfed in a cloud of fire.” The solid-fuel rocket booster had weakened due to the freezing temperatures and as a result, it started leaking hot, liquid fuel. The fuel tank collapsed and fell apart. Due to the massive amount of gas leaked and the mix of
10 hydrogen, a tremendous fire started and engulfed the spacecraft . It was also believed that the crew had died instantly, but it is very likely that they survived the initial breakup. However, soon after they would have lost consciousness and shortly after, they would die from oxygen deficiency
11 . These two examples are some of the topics that Sally Ride was assigned to investigate and get to the bottom of the mysterious explosion. Sally Ride was much more than just the first American woman to go into space; she was a valuable asset to NASA and helped solve many problems
NASA struggled with.
9 Ogle-Mater, Janet. “Who Was Sally Ride?” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 23 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/sally-ride-1779837 . 10 Greene, Nick. “The History of Space Shuttle Challenger.” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019, www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-space-shuttle-challenger-3072432 . 11 Pruitt, Sarah. “5 Things You May Not Know About the Challenger Shuttle Disaster.” H istory.com, A&E Television Networks, 28 Jan. 2016, www.history.com/news/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-challenger-shuttle-disaster .
5
Gender Barriers:
Even though she shattered many other barriers, the gender barrier is the one she is most noticed for. Sally Ride was the first American woman to enter space and inspire many others of every gender and race. Many famous celebrities gave their praise as to why she was an inspiration for many people, even after she had passed away. Barack Obama said, “ As the first American woman to travel into space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars and later fought tirelessly to help them get there by
12 advocating for a greater focus on science and math in our schools.” The fact that someone as powerful as a former president says that she was, and is, an inspiration to many young girls and will be for a long time states the impact she had and does have on many people today. He touched on how she revived interest in science and math for girls in schools and how she taught many people to shoot for the stars. Charles Bolden, the former NASA administrator also said, "Sally
Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism – and literally changed the face of America's space program. The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers. She will be
13 missed, but her star will always shine brightly." Bolden even used the words “broke barriers” in his statement which relays a lot since he has seen many historic people in his life. He also touches on Ride’s influence on the NASA program which says a lot compared to people like Neil
Armstrong. From a woman’s point of view, Lori Garver, NASA’s Deputy Administrator: “Sally was a personal and professional role model to me and thousands of women around the world. Her spirit and determination will continue to be an inspiration for women everywhere.” This statement
12 Granath, Bob. “Sally Ride Remembered as an Inspiration to Others.” N ASA , NASA, 23 Feb. 2015, www.nasa.gov/content/sally-ride-remembered-as-an-inspiration-to-others . 13 Granath, Bob. “Sally Ride Remembered as an Inspiration to Others.” N ASA , NASA, 23 Feb. 2015, www.nasa.gov/content/sally-ride-remembered-as-an-inspiration-to-others .
6 by Garver sums up Ride’s influence on the United States and the woman that live in this country.
Garver even touches on the fact that it continues out of country as well because she says
“everywhere.” However, Ride was also the victim of discrimination. Before she took her first trip to space, many people in the media questioned many topics that wouldn’t have been asked of a man. For example, NASA engineers asked her to help them assemble a makeup kit for her in space because they figured she’d want one; after all, she was a woman. Engineers also struggled with communicating with Ride about feminine hygiene products. They had suggested that she should take 100 tampons for just the one week space flight. The press also contributed to this, asking if she had ever cracked under pressure and cried or if she was concerned about not being able to
14 have children after the flight . In a 1983 interview with Gloria Steinem she said, “Everybody wanted to know what kind of makeup I was taking up. They didn’t care about how well-prepared I
15 was to operate the arm or deploy communications satellites. ” Even though these questions probably bothered her, she was able to brush them off and focus on inspiring women to follow their dreams and not let prejudice discourage them.
Sexual Orientation:
Sally Ride lived quite a private life compared to other people pictured in the media. It wasn’t until she passed away in 2012 that the United States realized just how many barriers she broke. After she passed, an old friend of Ride’s, Tam O’Shaughnessy, opened up about their
16 relationship shared over 27 years . Ride had previously been married to a fellow astronaut named
14 Blakemore, Erin. “When Sally Ride Took Her First Space Flight, Sexism Was the Norm.” H istory.com, A&E Television Networks, 18 June 2018, www.history.com/news/sally-ride-first-astronaut-sexism . 15 Blakemore, Erin. “When Sally Ride Took Her First Space Flight, Sexism Was the Norm.” H istory.com, A&E Television Networks, 18 June 2018, www.history.com/news/sally-ride-first-astronaut-sexism . 16 Anderson, Ashlee. “Sally Ride.” National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sally-ride . 7
17 Steven Hawley . Their relationship had lasted only five years before they divorced in the late
1980s. O’Shaughnessy and Ride had been friends as children and had stayed connected over the years. Eventually, their friendship had blossomed into more. Ride and O’Shaughnessy had been open about their relationship over the years, yet it wasn’t as recognized since Ride wasn’t a big symbol in the media anymore. It wasn’t until after Ride’s death that the relationship was publicly acknowledged and Ride once again became a symbol for many more people, even after life.
O’Shaughnessy and Ride had also written many childrens’ books together, aimed to inspire young
18 girls to become interested in science and math . Overall, Ride still broke many barriers, even after death, including becoming the first openly homosexual astronaut, which posed as an inspiration for many people by showing them that anyone can do anything, it doesn’t matter what gender they decide to date or marry.
Ride’s Perspective on Women’s Rights:
Sally Ride was known to keep her opinion on women’s rights out of the media. However, museum curators had found an ERA pin and three other pins for another first woman. The ERA, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment, was passed by the House and Senate in 1972, however, it still needed to be ratified by 38 states, which it wasn’t. A pin was found in Sally Ride’s desk that said “ERA is for Everyone” and buttons supporting Geraldine Ferraro who was nominated in 1984 by the Democrats to become the first woman vice president. Ferraro commended Ride in her speech at the Democatic National Convention, in which she said Ride had
19 made a “change in the air.” Three of these buttons were found in Ride’s desk along with the ERA
17 Ogle-Mater, Janet. “Who Was Sally Ride?” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 23 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/sally-ride-1779837 .
18 Ogle-Mater, Janet. “Who Was Sally Ride?” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 23 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/sally-ride-1779837 . 19 Weitekamp, Margaret A. “Sally Ride: Women's Firsts in Space and Politics.” N ational Air and Space Museum, 27 Feb. 2017, airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/sally-ride-womens-firsts. 8 pin. Other than this, she didn’t publicly support other movements for women's rights, but she did silently.
Ride’s Death and Honors:
Sally Ride, unfortunately, passed away on July 23, 2012 due to a 17 month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ride was only 61 years old, yet she had accomplished what many would never
20 achieve in an entire lifetime . Due to everything that Ride had done during her life, she was honored in many different ways. One way that she was honored was by a crater being named after her. Two mapping probes had intentionally been crashed into the moon by NASA and the crater
21 that they made in the moon was named after Sally Ride on December 12, 2012 . Another way that she was honored was being awarded the Medal of Freedom. On November 20, 2013, Sally
Ride was awarded the medal after death by then President Obama and it was accepted by her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy. The Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor that is awarded to people that contribute to “security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or to
22 cultural or other significant private or public endeavours.” One other way that she was honored was through a barbie doll. In 2019, Barbie launched a new “Inspiring Women” line and started it off with Rosa Parks and Sally Ride. This is truly an honor for Ride to be compared to Rosa Parks, one of the most prominent women in the United States’ history. Rosa Parks made a significant difference in the nation by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus when it was outlawed. To be aligned with Rosa Parks would be a great honor in this country and Ride would
20 “Sally Ride.” Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 24 July 2019, www.biography.com/astronaut/sally-ride . 21 Wall, Mike. “Moon Probes' Crash Site Named After Sally Ride.” Space.com , Space, 17 Dec. 2012, www.space.com/18944-nasa-grail-moon-crash-sally-ride.html . 22 Fox, Steve. “President Obama Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sally Ride.” N ASA , NASA, 20 Nov. 2013, www.nasa.gov/content/president-obama-awards-presidential-medal-of-freedom-to-sally-ride/. 9
23 most likely feel the same way . All of these honors help Sally Ride live on in the world and it continues to remind women and young girls that they can do anything they dream about as long as the effort is put towards it.
Conclusion:
Sally Ride, the first American female to go into space, influenced this nation as well as others in many ways. She broke many barriers such as youngest astronaut, first female astronaut, and first openly lesbian astronaut. All of these barriers helped inspire many young girls and women today for their future. As Sally Ride said, “It’s too bad this is such a big deal. It’s too bad our society isn’t further along.” Thanks to Sally Ride and a few others, the United States has advanced further. More women are entering the math and science fields while men are becoming accustomed to working with more women in these fields. Overall, Sally Ride influenced the United States in many more ways than one, and none of these events can be regretted.
23 Caviness, Sarah. “Barbie Launches New 'Inspiring Women' Dolls Honoring Rosa Parks, Sally Ride.” W JLA , WJLA, 27 Aug. 2019, wjla.com/news/entertainment/barbie-launches-new-inspiring-women-dolls-honoring-rosa-parks-sally-ride. 10
This is the front cover of a newspaper published on June 19,1983, a day after Sally Ride launched into space. The larger picture shows the actual spaceship taking off with Sally Ride. The other picture shows Sally Ride and the rest of her crew eagerly awaiting boarding the spacecraft.
Daily News, New York, editor. “Sally's Riding High.” Daily News , 19 June 1983.
11
This newspaper clipping describes Sally Ride’s main job on the STS-7, which was releasing the two satellites. One was aimed to go over Canada while the other was positioned over Indonesia.
“Challenger Launches Two Satellites.” The Russell Daily News, 20 June 1983.
12
This is an image of Sally Ride on June 15,1983, three days before she made history. She took her last glimpse of Houston as she took off to fly to the Kennedy Space Center to prepare for her flight.
Content Administrator , NASA, editor. Ready to Fly . Huston , 15 June 1983.
13
This is a picture of Sally Ride working on the Shuttle Pallet Satellite. During this picture, she is in the mission specialist’s seat, preparing for deorbit.
Content Administrator, NASA. First American Woman in Space. 18 June 1983.
14
These two pictures are two of the buttons found in Sally Ride’s desk drawer. Even though Sally
Ride kept most of her opinions private, she still silently supported other movements to help women’s rights and moves to break even more barriers in American history.
Weitekamp, Margaret A. “Sally Ride: Women's Firsts in Space and Politics.” N ational Air
and Space Museum, 27 Feb. 2017,
airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/sally-ride-womens-firsts.
15
This chart shows the number of women in college compared to the number of men in college. This improves the argument that Sally Ride influenced many women to go after their dreams which is shown in the graph by women surpassing men in enrollment for college in the early 1980s which was when Ride first took her mission to space.
Borzelleca, Daniel. “The Male-Female Ratio in College.” Forbes, 16 Feb. 1012, www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2012/02/16/the-male-female-ratio-in-college/#700dedc1fa52.
16
This chart compares the number of male astronauts to the number of women astronauts by each graduating class. The first year with a dark blue line was the class with Sally Ride while the light blue line was the number of men in that class.
17
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Buchholz, Katharina, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: Number of Female NASA Astronauts
Rises.” Statista Infographics , 16 Jan. 2020,
www.statista.com/chart/17487/number-of-female-nasa-astronauts/.
This source shows a graph of the number of female astronauts compared to male astronauts over the years by class. Each graduating class shows the number of each sex which changed in 1978 when Sally Ride and 6 other females graduated.
“Challenger Launches Two Satellites.” The Russell Daily News, 20 June 1983.
This newspaper clipping shows an article written on June 20th that discusses one of the main jobs that Sally Ride had aboard the STS-7. It also includes insight from different people that work at
NASA on the launch of the two satellites.
Collins, Eileen. “Return to Flight.” NASA , NASA, 23 Feb. 2005,
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/women_at_nasa.html.
18
This interview discusses Collins life ever since she knew she wanted to be an astronaut in
high school. In the interview, they switch between personal life, education, and career life
which develops a personal yet serious view on the topics discussed.
Content Administrator , NASA, editor. Ready to Fly . Huston , 15 June 1983.
This shows a picture of Sally Ride taking her last glance of Huston before her flight. She
flew from there all the way to the Kennedy Space Center located in Florida to prepare for
her upcoming flight in three days.
Content Administrator, NASA. First American Woman in Space . 18 June 1983.
This picture of Sally Ride shows her aboard the Shuttle Pallet Satellite, sitting in the
mission specialist’s seat. When this picture was taken, she was preparing for deorbit.
Cothren, Beverly. “Beverly Swanson Cothren: NASA Oral History.” NASA Oral History , 15 June
2001,
historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/NASA_HQ/Herstory
/CothrenBS/BSC_6-15-01.pdf.
This interview with Beverly Cothren talks about how she got to work at NASA and some
of her unique experiences she had there. She explains some of the pressures and social 19
injustices that were related with her being a woman in NASA just like Sally Ride
experienced.
Daily News, New York, editor. “Sally's Riding High.” Daily News , 19 June 1983.
This newspaper’s front page shows two different pictures representing Sally Ride. One
shows the craft taking off and the other is a picture of her crew before entering the
spaceship.
Galloway, Eilene. “Oral History Transcript.” Her Story , 7 Aug. 2000,
historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/NASA_HQ/Herstory
?GallowayE/EG_8-7-00.pdf.
This is an interview with Eilene Galloway that talks about the competition the U.S. had
with the Societ Union and how that pressured everyone in NASA. It also discussed all of
her different positions that she held at NASA. This applied to Sally Ride because of the
discussion that they had that talked about how much prejudice there still was 20 years ago,
which really emphasized everything Sally Ride had to go through to get to space.
Ingalls, Bill. We Are NASA: Portrait of Astronaut Candidate Kayla Barron. Johnson Space
Center-Huston, Texas, 12 July 2019. 20
The astronaut candidate Kayla Barron is pictured in her spacesuit at the Johnson Space
Center in Huston, Texas. This image depicts the expression that Sally Ride probably wore
as she tried on her space suit for the first time.
“An Interview With Sally Ride.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 25 July 2012,
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/interview-sally-ride.html .
This interview with Sally Ride discusses her views on being the first American woman to
go into space and how she dealt with the prejudice that she received during her different
stages at NASA. This also talks about how she hopes that with her experiences, she was
able to inspire girls to do what they want and not let anything get in their way.
Johnson, Caye. Preparing Vitamins to 'Feed' Lunar Samples . Ames Research Center, 1969.
This image captures Biologist Caye Johnson creating vitamin mixtures for the lunar
biological sampling experiments in 1969 at the Ames Research Center. This shows when
women really started being able to do things at NASA that required a larger degree.
., Sally Ride Science. “‘Honoring Sally’ on UCTV: Sally Ride's Partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy,
Talks about Ride's Remarkable Life and Research Ship That Honors Her Legacy.” Sally
Ride Science, 17 Sept. 2017, 21
sallyridescience.ucsd.edu/honoring-sally-on-uctv-sally-rides-partner-tam-oshaughnessy-talk
s-about-rides-remarkable-life-and-research-ship-that-honors-her-legacy/.
This interview with Tam O’Shaughnessy gets a different point of view on Sally Ride and
really focuses on what type of person Sally Ride was. Many of her accomplishments were
addressed in this interview with nothing held back.
Staff, SPACE.com. “Astronaut Sally Ride: In Her Own Words.” Space.com , Space, 24 July 2012,
www.space.com/16732-sally-ride-quotes-women-science.html .
This interview with Sally Ride focuses on how she felt about her achievements and some
of the contributing factors that made her who she was. Some of the quotes on this page
make it very obvious as to why she was looked up to and still is by children and adults
alike.
Weitekamp, Margaret A. “Sally Ride: Women's Firsts in Space and Politics.” National Air and
Space Museum , 27 Feb. 2017, airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/sally-ride-womens-firsts.
This source displays pictures of the pins that Sally Ride kept in her desk along with the role
that Sally Ride played in politics. It also discusses how her influence impacted another very
influential woman in America’s history. 22
Secondary Sources
Abdill, Rich. “Sally Ride Revealed to Be Gay: Her Sister, on Ride's Life, Death, and Desires for
Privacy (UPDATED).” New Times Broward-Palm Beach , 4, 14 Nov. 2018,
www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/sally-ride-revealed-to-be-gay-her-sister-on-rides-life-de
ath-and-desires-for-privacy-updated-6459520 .
This article expands on Sally Ride’s relationship with Tam O’Shaughnessy and how she
decided to keep a lot of her life private and avoid announcing their relationship together.
This article focuses on her family’s point of view on her success and decisions that she had
made within her lifetime.
Administrator, NASA Content. “First American Woman in Space.” NASA , NASA, 17 Apr. 2015,
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2533.html.
This source talks about Sally Ride and her position aboard the Shuttle Pallet Satellite. This
really shows how she was used in different areas other than just space and how she truly
made a difference in our world today.
Anderson, Ashlee. “Sally Ride.” National Women's History Museum,
www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sally-ride . 23
This is an additional biography on Sally Ride that goes into more detail on how Sally Ride
was honored, before and after her death. This source focused on all the people that she had
to have inspired to be honored in this many different ways.
Blakemore, Erin. “When Sally Ride Took Her First Space Flight, Sexism Was the Norm.”
History.com , A&E Television Networks, 18 June 2018,
www.history.com/news/sally-ride-first-astronaut-sexism .
This source describes how even though Sally Ride received many congrats, she still faced
sexism in the workplace. This also provides a nice engine for further topics to research on
her.
Borzelleca, Daniel. “The Male-Female Ratio in College.” Forbes, 16 Feb. 1012,
www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2012/02/16/the-male-female-ratio-in-college/#700dedc1fa52.
Caviness, Sarah. “Barbie Launches New 'Inspiring Women' Dolls Honoring Rosa Parks, Sally
Ride.” WJLA , WJLA, 27 Aug. 2019,
wjla.com/news/entertainment/barbie-launches-new-inspiring-women-dolls-honoring-rosa-p
arks-sally-ride. 24
This website takes a national point of view and shows how major of an influence that Sally
Ride was. The company that makes Barbie made her comparable to Rosa Parks which
everyone learns about in school so this proves the point that she impacted our world today
in multiple different ways.
Dunbar, Brian. “Who Was Sally Ride?” NASA , NASA, 12 May 2015,
www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-sally-ride-k4.html .
This is a reliable website since it comes straight from the government and it elaborates more
on what Sally Ride did at NASA. More specifically, it talks about what she did on her
missions as well as linked pictures from the direct source.
Fox, Steve. “President Obama Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sally Ride.” N ASA ,
NASA, 20 Nov. 2013,
www.nasa.gov/content/president-obama-awards-presidential-medal-of-freedom-to-sally-rid
e/.
The website talks about how Sally Ride was honored with the Medal of Freedom. It also
provides photos and additional evidence about how she broke many barriers. 25
Gebhardt, Chris. “1983-1986: The Missions and History of Space Shuttle Challenger.” N ASA
Space Flight , 28 Jan. 2011,
www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/01/1983-1986-missions-history-space-shuttle-challenger/
This article elaborates of NASA’s background of the Challenger missions which is
discussed in the second paragraph. Much of this information is used because its information
is extremely detailed.
Grady, Denise. “American Woman Who Shattered Space Ceiling.” The New York Times , The
New York Times, 23 July 2012,
www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/science/space/sally-ride-trailblazing-astronaut-dies-at-61.ht
ml?pagewanted=all.
NewYork Times had put out an obituary on Sally Ride around the date of her death that
goes over some of the main things she did in her lifetime and some things that she
overcame. It also goes over some more of the prejudice that she experienced while she was
an astronaut and the multiple barriers that she broke during her life.
Granath, Bob. “Sally Ride Remembered as an Inspiration to Others.” NASA , NASA, 23 Feb.
2015, www.nasa.gov/content/sally-ride-remembered-as-an-inspiration-to-others . 26
This source gives good evidence as to how Sally Ride was an inspiration to all people. It
also gives quotes from the former president that he gave after Ride had passed.
Greene, Nick. “The History of Space Shuttle Challenger.” T houghtCo , ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019,
www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-space-shuttle-challenger-3072432 .
This website talks about the Challenger history, including both of the missions Sally Ride
was included on. This gives me background information for my paragraph focusing on
NASA’s background.
Heinrichs, Allison M. “Sally Ride Encourages Girls to Engineer Careers.” Sally Ride Encourages
Girls to Engineer Careers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , 26 Sept. 2007,
web.archive.org/web/20071120051643/www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/city
region/s_529380.html .
This source discusses how a young girl was able to meet Sally Ride through a raffle and
how much she wanted to meet her. This source reiterates how Sally Ride really inspired
many young girls to get into technology and engineering fields and not hold anything back.
Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. “How the Women of NASA Made Their Mark on the Space Program.”
Phys.org , Phys.org, 18 July 2019, phys.org/news/2019-07-women-nasa-space.html. 27
This source identifies women in NASA all the way back to the Civil Rights Movement.
Some of these women are also portrayed in the movie “Hidden Figures” as mathematicians.
It also discusses some events after the Civil Rights Movement as well.
Holland, Brynn. “Human Computers: The Women of NASA.” History.com , A&E Television
Networks, 13 Dec. 2016, www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa.
This source talks about human computers used in the late 1930s and 40s extend beyond the
normal NASA employees. It elaborates on what some key figures worked on and how
some were honored, some honored similarly to Sally Ride.
Howat, Kenna. “The Women of NASA.” National Women's History Museum , 2 Oct. 2017,
www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/women-nasa.
This website includes captioned photos with information about what was happening at the
time the photo was taken and some other key events that are valuable to know. These
photos feature women of NASA throughout its entire history which develops possible
theories on who could have influenced Sally Ride.
“Human Computers - NasaCRgis.” NASA , NASA,
crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/Human_Computers. 28
This website has history on the first “human computers.” This source also gives additional
sources where interviews and other readings related to the topic are. It also has pictures
taken of the first women to enter NASA as an educated worker.
Islas, Jason. “Barrier-Breaking Astronaut Interred at Santa Monica’s Woodlawn Cemetery.” Santa
Monica Lookout , 8 Aug. 2012,
www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2012/August-2012/08_08_2
012_Barrier_Breaking_Astronaut_Interred_at_Santa_Monica_Cemetery.html.
This website has breaking barriers in the title and it elaborates on that in the short article.
There is also quotes from other people used in the article that show how she inspired
ordinary citizens to shoot farther.
Lakritz, Talia. “The Most Famous Women in NASA History.” Insider , Insider, 18 Oct. 2019,
www.insider.com/female-astronauts-nasa-2019-5.
This source identifies 17 different women in NASa throughout its history, including Sally
Ride. These women have all contributed to NASA in major ways that quite possibly are so
important that Americans may not have reached places we’ve been without them. 29
Lewis, Jone Johnson. “A Brief History of Women in Higher Education.” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo,
25 Mar. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/history-women-higher-ed-4129738.
This source clearly identifies the history of women’s education in society and how it has
increased over time. This is useful to strengthen my argument on why Sally Ride
influenced our nation.
Ogle-Mater, Janet. “Who Was Sally Ride?” ThoughtCo , ThoughtCo, 23 Jan. 2020,
www.thoughtco.com/sally-ride-1779837 .
This website discusses Sally Ride more extensively about her experience at NASA. This
information will be used in my paragraph about Sally Ride’s experiences in space and
working at NASA.
“Pioneering NASA Engineer Darden Shares Her Journey from 'Human Computer' to Expert in
Supersonic Flight.” Princeton University , The Trustees of Princeton University,
www.princeton.edu/news/2019/11/22/pioneering-nasa-engineer-darden-shares-her-journey-
human-computer-expert-supersonic. 30
This source describes how Christine Darden went from a human computer to a noticed
figure in history. This really foreshadows what Sally Ride does in the future which is also a
building block to her role in NASA.
Pruitt, Sarah. “5 Things You May Not Know About the Challenger Shuttle Disaster.” H istory.com,
A&E Television Networks, 28 Jan. 2016,
www.history.com/news/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-challenger-shuttle-disaster
.
This website aided in my research on the Challenger disaster of 1986. Sally Ride was one
of the key people involved in the investigation that helped figure out the root of the disaster.
“Sally Ride.” Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 24 July 2019,
www.biography.com/astronaut/sally-ride .
This website gives a basic outline of Sally Ride’s life from her beginning to her end. It
really just brushes over everything and provides just enough information to start
researching more topics that elaborate on Sally Ride.
“Sally Ride.” Wikipedia , Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride. 31
This source, although not always reliable, provides a very clear outline of Sally Ride’s life.
At the bottom of the page, a list of sources is also provided which gives more information
about a certain topic that may aid my research.
Staff, BP. “10 Fascinating Things about Astronaut Sally Ride You Must Know.” T he Biharprabha
News , 26 May 2015,
news.biharprabha.com/2015/05/10-awesome-things-about-astronaut-sally-ride-you-must-kn
ow/.
This source gives a brief overview of 10 different events or topics that Sally Ride is known
for. Some of these topics include the Challenger disaster investigation, her relationship with
Tam S., and additional records that she set along with becoming the first American woman
to go into space.
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream . Candlewick Press, 2009.
This book discusses 13 different women that challenged the government. Even though they
didn’t make it into space, they inspired many other women in the technology and
engineering industry. 32
Wall, Mike. “Moon Probes' Crash Site Named After Sally Ride.” Space.com, Space, 17 Dec.
2012, www.space.com/18944-nasa-grail-moon-crash-sally-ride.html .
This website again reiterates how massive of an impact Sally Ride had on our world today,
even on our government. She was very prominent in our society that she even had a moon
landing crater named after her.
Wild, Flint. “NASA Women of STEM.” NASA , NASA, 25 Feb. 2016,
www.nasa.gov/stem/womenstem.html.
This website has many different categories to open where you can see what women do in
that specific area of science. Some of these categories include engineering, technology, and
space studies.