SALLY K. RIDE (PH.D.) 

NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, California. Died on July 23, 

2012. She is survived by Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years; her mother, Joyce 

Ride; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin and her nephew, Whitney. Her father, Dale B. Ride, 

is deceased. She enjoyed tennis (having been an instructor and having achieved national 

ranking as a junior), running, volleyball, softball and stamp collecting.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Westlake High School, Los Angeles, California, in 1968; 

received from Stanford University a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in 

English in 1973 and a Master of Science and Doctorate in Physics in 1975 and 1978, 

respectively.

EXPERIENCE: Dr. Ride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978. 

In August 1979, she completed a one-year training and evaluation period, making her eligible 

for assignment as a Mission Specialist on future space shuttle flight crews. She subsequently 

performed as an on-orbit Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) on the STS-2 and STS-3 missions.

Dr. Ride was a Mission Specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 18, 1983. She was 

accompanied by Captain Robert L. Crippen (spacecraft commander), Captain Frederick H. Hauck (pilot), and fellow Mission 

Specialists, Colonel John M. Fabian and Dr. Norman E. Thagard. This was the second flight for the orbiter Challenger and the 

first mission with a five-person crew. During the mission, the STS-7 crew deployed satellites for Canada (ANIK C-2) and 

Indonesia (PALAPA B-1); operated the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to perform the first deployment and 

retrieval exercise with the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01); conducted the first formation flying of the orbiter with a free-flying 

satellite (SPAS-01); carried and operated the first U.S./German cooperative materials science payload (OSTA-2) and operated 

the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) and the Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR) experiments, in addition to 

activating seven Getaway Specials. Mission duration was 147 hours before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force 

Base, California, on June 24, 1983.

Dr. Ride served as a Mission Specialist on STS 41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on October 5, 1984. This 

was the largest crew to fly to date and included Captain Robert L. Crippen (spacecraft commander), Captain Jon A. McBride 

(pilot), fellow Mission Specialists, Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan and Commander David C. Leestma, as well as two payloads 

specialists, Commander Marc Garneau and Paul Scully-Power. Their eight-day mission deployed the Earth Radiation Budget 

Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the Earth with the OSTS-3 pallet and Large Format Camera and as demonstrated

potential satellite refueling with a spacewalk and associated hydrazine transfer. Mission duration was 197 hours and concluded 

with a landing at Kennedy Space Center on October 13, 1984.

In June 1985, Dr. Ride was assigned to the crew of STS 61-M. Mission training was terminated in January 1986 following the 

space shuttle Challenger accident. Dr. Ride served as a member of the Presidential Commission investigating the accident. Upon 

completion of the investigation, she was assigned to NASA Headquarters as Special Assistant to the Administrator for long-range 

and strategic planning. 

In 1989, Dr. Ride joined the faculty at the University of California San Diego as a Professor of Physics and Director of the 

University of California’s California Space Institute. In 2001, she founded her own company, Sally Ride Science to pursue her 

long-time passion of motivating girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math and technology. The company creates 

entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students and their parents and teachers.

A long-time advocate for improved science education, Dr. Ride has written five science books for children: To Space and Back;

Voyager; The Third Planet; The Mystery of Mars and Exploring Our Solar System. She has also initiated and directed education 

projects designed to fuel middle school students’ fascination with science.

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National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058
Dr. Ride was a member of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and the National Research 

Council’s Space Studies Board and has served on the boards of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Foundation. Dr. Ride is a Fellow 

of the American Physical Society, a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and served on the boards of the 

Aerospace Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. She is the only person to have served on the commissions 

investigating both the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia accidents.

Dr. Ride received numerous honors and awards. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Astronaut 

Hall of Fame and has received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the von Braun Award, the Lindbergh Eagle and the 

NCAA’s Theodore Roosevelt Award. She has also twice been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal.

JULY 2012

This is the only version available from NASA.