Sally Ride

Creado por : Gabriela Cerda

Historias P.1 y Avid/Tech. P.4
Marzo 21,2014
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Cerda,Gabriela
Mrs. Vaque, De Santiago
History 19, Avid. /Tech.
3 March, 2014

Sally Ride
I HAVE been a bit of a risk taker all my life, (Sally Ride Biography) these are the
words that Sally Ride once said, and that was exactly what led her to success and her great
accomplishments. Throughout her life she excelled in many aspects and accomplished many
things. Many of her achievements however were while her career as an astronaut. Sally Ride
loved science, but that was pretty much the only reason that led her to becoming an astronaut.
Sally Rides childhood was like any other childhood, typical. She was born in Los
Angeles, California. Her father was Dale Burdell; her mother was Carol Joyce Anderson. Her
father worked as a political science professor at the Santa Monica College. Her mother was a
volunteer counselor at a womens correctional. As a child she excelled in all her classes, was a
straight A student, and her teachers saw a bright future ahead of her. Their teachers were
absolutely not wrong about that, for she became the first American women to fly into space. She
also had an in depth love for tennis. In fact, she was a nationally ranked junior tennis player. As a
result, she was awarded a tennis scholarship and she went to Westlake school for girls. Later, she
attended Swarthmore University but thought she wanted to be a professional tennis player so she
left. At last she decided she did not want a career as a professional athlete, after going through all
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the requirements that it took her. After having decided that, she attended the University of
Stanford. There she received a bachelors degree in English, and a bachelors, masters and Ph.D.
in physics. Once she graduated she began doing research regarding astrophysics and free-
electron laser physics. She began getting involved in things that would lead to her next big step.
A phone call from NASA marked the beginning of her career. In 1978, she was chosen in
NASA (Sally Ride).Ride was one of the 6 women out of the 35 people chosen from 8,000
applicants for a once in a life time
opportunity of NASA spaceflight
training (Sally Ride).It was an
honor for her to be awarded this
position which she took without a
second thought. A year of hard
work and preparation followed. By
the end of her preparation she had
to be really familiar with parachute
jumping, radio communication, navigation & flight instruction, and other things too. She also
needed to learn water survival and weightlessness training. During NASA, she worked as a
ground- based capsule communicator for the STS-2 and STS-3. It was until June 18, 1983 when
Sally Ride set record on becoming the first American woman to fly to space (Sally Ride).She
was on the challengers STS-7 mission, which had 5 astronauts aboard. She was also the first
woman to use the robot arm. During this flight they conducted pharmaceutical experiments. On
October 5, 1984, she had her second space flight STS 41-G, also in the Challenger, and this time
carried a total of 7 astronauts (Sally Ride Biography).This mission mainly focused on the
Fig. 1. Cricket Lee.image. Geek Nation 24 July 2012
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satellites and observing the earth. They landed on October 13, 1984 at the Kennedy Space Center
(Sally Ride Biography). Just with these 2 flights, she had completed over 343 hours of
spaceflight (Sally Ride).While she was in training for her third flight, a disaster occurred, the
Space shuttle disaster. Ride was sent to NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. Here she led
NASAs first strategic plan and founded NASAs Office of exploration (Sally Ride).Ride
received many awards. She received a Jefferson Award for Public service, National spaceflight
medals in 1983 and 1984, in recognition of achievement during space shuttle missions. Sally
Ride left NASA in 1987 (Sally Ride).
After Ride left her career as an astronaut she worked at the Stanford University center for
International Security and Arms Control. After that, in 1989, she worked as a physics professor
at UC San Diego, and that same year she was a director of the California Space Institute. In 2003
she served on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. In 2001, she co-founded Sally Ride
Science, a company. She was put into the womens hall of fame, and the astronauts hall of fame.
Two elementary schools were named after her. The U.S. navy also named a research ship in her
name on April 2013. Sally Ride died on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61 from cancer (Sally Ride
Biography). A year after her death, she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations
highest civilian honor. She achieved many accomplishments in astrophysics and space
exploration throughout her life.
Sally Rides legacy will live on. She is a great influence to many of the young women and
men interested in the fields of science. Her accomplishments will always be remembered and she
is a hero to many future scientist and astronauts. She made history in NASA, by being the first
and youngest American women to fly into space and will never be forgotten.
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Work Cited
Sally Ride Biography. Academy of Achievement. The Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, 12
August 2013. Web. 20 February 2014.
Sally Ride. Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale Literature Resource Center. 2013.
Web. 19 February 2014.
Sally Ride. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2014. Web. 20 February. 2014.