I was nine years old when I first wanted to be an astronaut, and my first hero was Sally Ride. I looked up to her as a woman, a scientist, and an astronaut. Sally’s enthusiasm for life, boundless energy, intelligence, and passion for science were constant beacons throughout my formative years. Sally Ride was a trailblazer both for NASA and for working women everywhere. She showed women that they could achieve the same status as their male peers. Sally Ride’s integrity never faltered, even as a woman in a male-dominated profession for much of her career. 
 
 You can understand just how sad I was to hear that Sally Ride passed away today, July 23, 2012, after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Sally is survived by her 27-year partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, and her mother, Joyce. Before her official obituary today, Sally had always referred to her partner as “a good friend,” never feeding rumors or speculation as to her sexual preferences, keeping her private life … private. 
 
 Born May 26, 1951, Sally Ride grew up wanting to be a scientist. She received four degrees including her PhD in physics from Stanford University in 1977. After answering a newspaper ad for astronaut applicants, Sally Ride became one of the first six women to join the NASA astronaut corp in 1978, beating out most of the other roughly 8000 applicants. During her pre-flight career, she served as Capsule Communicator (CapCom) and worked on developing the shuttle’s famous robotic arm. 
 
 On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on STS-7 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. During her historic flight, she became the first person to ever retrieve a satellite with the robotic arm that she had helped design. Her second flight on STS-41G, also aboard Challenger, took off on October 5, 1984. STS-41G was the first flight to carry a full seven person crew and was tasked with deploying a satellite and performing scientific Earth observations. Sally had spent 343 hours in space and was eight months into the training for her third flight when disaster struck NASA on January 28, 1986. After the Challenger accident, Sally served on the Challenger Accident Investigation Board and was tasked with reviewing mission operations. When the review was finished, she was permanently reassigned to NASA headquarters as special assistant to the administrator for long-range and strategic planning and ultimately became the first Director of the Office of Exploration. In 2003, Ride became the only member of the Columbia accident review board who had also served during the Challenger review. 
 
 Listen to Sally describe in her own words what it meant to be the first female American in space and her memories of her experiences in space. This JPL interview was conducted on the 25th anniversary of her historic first flight. 
 
 Sally Ride retired from NASA in 1987, and spent much of the next 14 years as a physics professor at UC-San Diego. In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to encouraging boys and girls to peruse STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. Her company creates exciting and engaging classroom materials, programming, and professional development for teachers in hopes of inspiring children to pursue their scientific dreams. She has written or co-written seven different science books for children. 
 
 Sally Ride’s life was filled to the brim with adventure and inspiration. Her legacy will be no different. Her company will continue to inspire children for years to come to pursue their dreams, and her memory will live as a constant reminder to everyone that dreams really do come true. We here at GeekMom want to thank you, Sally, for being an inspiration to us all. ||||| Story highlights Sally Ride, America' first female astronaut, died this week 
 
 Meg Urry: For a handful of women, she was an irreplaceable leader 
 
 She says Ride was part of a wave of accomplished women who broke through barriers 
 
 Urry: In later years, Ride took on science literacy, opening doors for younger women 
 
 Sitting in a meeting at NASA's Science Advisory Committee on Monday afternoon, I heard the news that Sally Ride had died. She was important to everyone in that room -- mostly space scientists and NASA officials. But for a handful of women like me, she was an irreplaceable leader. 
 
 Sally Ride wasn't the first woman to go into space, or to want to do so, much less the first woman qualified to do so. She would have been the first to tell you that. But as the first U.S. woman in space, on STS-7, the seventh flight of America's new space shuttle, she was the first woman astronaut most Americans knew about. And she used that fame for good. 
 
 The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut whose pioneering flight took place only two years after her colleague Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. At NASA, in contrast, there was a 20-year gap between human (male) space flight and Ride's historic flight. 
 
 Meg Urry 
 
 Her giant step for womankind happened two decades later than it should have. That's why it was so important, especially for those of us women trying to succeed in male-dominated arenas. 
 
 As STS-7 blasted off in 1983, I was finishing up my doctorate in physics -- astrophysics, to be more precise -- just as Ride had done a few years earlier. Most of my classmates were men, and I often felt out of place. Whether she shared that sense of being an outsider or not doesn't matter -- the important thing was that, thanks to her notoriety as a NASA astronaut, I found out about one more precious role model, someone in whose steps I could hope to follow. (OK, not the astronaut part -- I am far too chicken for that.) Ride made success seem attainable, even in the men-only world of physics. 
 
 Born in 1951, Ride, like all women her age, grew up in a United States led by men, where it was major news if a woman became a pilot, ran for political office or headed a Fortune 500 company. 
 
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 She was part of a wave of accomplished women who broke through the barriers. Ride was one of the first six women accepted by NASA for astronaut training in a class of 35 selected in 1978. They were all pioneers, but after the STS-7 crew was announced, Ride's name became a household word. 
 
 The press attention at the time was relentless, but she weathered it with evident calm. For a student like me, it was empowering to see such a talented, poised, accomplished woman take on this challenge -- one of the "first woman this-or-that" breakthroughs I had dreamed about as a child. 
 
 One of Ride's astronaut classmates, Kathryn Sullivan, became the first American woman to walk in space. In 1984, Sullivan and Ride were crew mates on the STS-41-G flight, Ride's second time in space. Both flights were on the Challenger. Ride was training for her third shuttle flight when the Challenger exploded, on January 28, 1986. That led to a three-year moratorium on NASA human space flight. Ride served on the NASA board investigating the Challenger disaster, then left NASA in 1987. For her, the bloom must have been off the space shuttle rose. 
 
 Ride could easily have rested on her laurels. Instead, she took on the great challenge of science literacy, especially for girls. She had gotten her doctorate in physics at a time when few women did so. She knew firsthand the joy of doing science and the satisfaction of helping advance knowledge. That must be one of the reasons she worked toward a world in which other women were encouraged to do science, not pushed away. 
 
 In 2001 she started a company, Sally Ride Science, that runs science camps and daylong festivals for middle school girls as well as trains science teachers. Sally Ride Science is a partner in the GRAIL MoonKAM , a camera on NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellite now orbiting the moon, the first NASA flight project dedicated fully to education and public outreach. Her company is also involved with EarthKAM on the International Space Station. The "KAM" in both names stands for Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students -- that was Ride's grail. 
 
 In the early 1960s, as NASA was selecting the Mercury 7 to be America's first astronauts, several dozen U.S. women underwent similar evaluation, in secret. A group of women later known as the Mercury 13, including some of the finest aviators of the day, passed the same grueling physical and psychological tests as the Mercury 7. According to Martha Ackmann, author of "The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of 13 American Women and the Dream of Space Flight," some of the women scored better on the tests than their male counterparts of the Mercury 7. But none was ever accepted by NASA for training. 
 
 Unlike Ride, the names of the women pilots and would-be astronauts are not widely known today: Jerrie Cobb, Bernice Steadman, Janey Hart, Jerri Truhill, Rhea Woltman, Sarah Ratley, Jan and Marion Dietrich, Myrtle Cagle, Irene Leverton, Gene Nora Jessen, Jean Hixson and Wally Funk. Some 40 years later, happily, they have been celebrated as pioneers and recognized with awards such as the Adler Planetarium's Women in Space Science award in 2005. I suspect these women appreciate the recognition but would rather have done what Ride did. They would rather have flown in space. 
 
 Still, 343 hours in space wasn't all that Ride was about. Her true passion was opening doors for younger women, so they can follow their interests and talents without restrictions. 
 
 Today, middle school students at Sally Ride Science learn the excitement and fun of science, the thrill and the challenge. Ride got to walk that walk in a big way. Her legacy is that other women do, too. 
 
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 Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion. ||||| Astronaut Sally Ride, mission specialist on STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck of the Space Shuttle Challenger in this NASA handout photo dated June 25, 1983. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook. 
 
 Sally Ride, who died today after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, was the first female U.S. astronaut in space and became friends with Tam O'Shaugnessy at the age of 12. It was not until today, however — nearly 50 years after meeting — that their 27-year romantic relationship was made public. 
 
 The pioneering scientist was, a statement from Sally Ride Science announced, survived by "Tam O'Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years." 
 
 With that simple statement — listed alongside her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin and nephew, Whitney — Ride came out. 
 
 Bear Ride, talking with BuzzFeed, said today, "We consider Tam a member of the family." 
 
 Saying that her sister was a very private person, Bear Ride said, "People did not know she had pancreatic cancer, that's going to be a huge shock. For 17 months, nobody knew -- and everyone does now. Her memorial fund is going to be in support of pancreatic cancer. 
 
 "The pancreatic cancer community is going to be absolutely thrilled that there's now this advocate that they didn't know about. And, I hope the GLBT community feels the same," Bear Ride, who identifies as gay, said. 
 
 "I hope it makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them," she added. 
 
 Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman from Sally Ride Science, the company Ride formed to provide educational materials and programs for schools, confirmed to BuzzFeed that there had not, to her knowledge, previously been published acknowledgment of Ride and O'Shaugnessy's relationship. 
 
 Bear Ride, though, said that her sister "never hid her relationship with Tam. They have been partners, business partners in Sally Ride Science, they've written books together .... Sally's very close friends, of course, knew." 
 
 O'Shaugnessy is the chief operating officer and executive vice president for Sally Ride Science, as well as an emeritus professor at San Diego State University. Sally Ride had previously been married to fellow astronaut Steven Hawley in 1982; they divorced in 1987. Ride went into space on two missions, first in 1983 and then again in 1984. 
 
 Of Sally Ride's sexual orientation, Bear Ride said, "Sally didn't use labels. Sally had a very fundamental sense of privacy, it was just her nature, because we're Norwegians, through and through." 
 
 Calling Ride "a patriot and a pioneer," Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin told BuzzFeed, "For many Americans, coming out will be the hardest thing they ever do. While it's a shame that Americans were not able to experience this aspect of Sally while alive, we should all be proud of the fact that like many LGBT Americans, she proudly served her country, had a committed and loving relationship, and lived a good life." 
 
 Of the further implications of today's news, Griffin added: "The fact that Sally Ride was a lesbian will further help round out Americans's understanding of the contributions of LGBT Americans to our country. Our love and condolences go out to her partner." 
 
 Asked about those who would have opposed legal recognition of her sister's relationship, Bear Ride bluntly replied, "Who cares about them, really? There are those who are stubbornly ignorant, and if they want to continue in that, God bless them, but probably best not to talk to my family." ||||| That wasn't too hard, was it? 
 
 But it takes a long time into the NYT obit of Sally Ride for readers to realize that the first American woman in space was a lesbian, and, even then, you have to be alert. Maybe this could have tipped them off: 
 
 Dr. Ride was known for guarding her privacy. She rejected most offers for product endorsements, memoirs and movies, and her reticence lasted to the end. At her request, NASA kept her illness secret. In 1983, writing in The Washington Post, Susan Okie, a journalist and longtime friend, described Dr. Ride as elusive and enigmatic, protective of her emotions. “During college and graduate school,” Dr. Okie wrote, “I had to interrogate her to find out what was happening in her personal life.” 
 
 Now talk about a buried lede! The only thing preventing the NYT from writing an honest obit is homophobia. They may not realize it; they may not mean it; but it is absolutely clear from the obit that Ride's sexual orientation was obviously central to her life. And her "partner" (ghastly word) and their relationship is recorded only perfunctorily. The NYT does not routinely only mention someone's spouse in the survivors section. When you have lived with someone for 27 years, some account of that relationship is surely central to that person's life. To excise it completely is an act of obliteration. I'm afraid the Beast's tribute is worse. Lynn Sherr manages to write an appreciation which essentially treats Ride as a heterosexual. When Sherr writes this ... 
 
 In technological terms, NASA was pushing ahead toward the 21st century. But in human terms, it had finally entered the 20th. And it could not have picked a better pioneer. 
 
 ... she is referring to Ride's gender, not her sexual orientation. And one often over-looked aspect of this is the long-standing discomfort of some in the feminist movement with lesbians in their midst. Feminists often "inned" lesbian pioneers, or the lesbians closeted themselves. This was not because they were in a reactionary movement; it was because they were in a progressive movement that did not want to be "tarred" with the lesbian image. (Think of Bayard Rustin for a gay male equivalent). Now, of course, Ride chose the closet throughout her life. Given who she was, how independent and brilliant, brave and cool, this is surely testament to how deep homophobia ran in American life. But it may also, as one reader suggests, be part of a welcome shift: 
 
 We only know O'Shaugnessy is a female from that vague abstraction - "partner" - and from a parenthetical statement that Ms. O'Shaugnessy was the CEO of the late Ride's company. I have no idea if Ride was out to her friends or out to the public. But this could be another replication of the Anderson Cooper phenomenon - a movement towards a gay equality where people can come out on their own terms, without making what they perceive to be a big deal out of it. Hopefully we're getting to the point where being gay is an utterly unremarkable fact in a great American life. 
 
 Another: 
 
 I don't always keep up with the latest on who has come out openly, but this certainly came as a surprise to me. 
 
 I guess putting this information at the end of the obit is in line with the Times's treatment of sexuality; they certainly would not go out of their way to identify someone as heterosexual other than in listing survivors. That alone shows how far we've come. But are we really in a world where the fact that one of the most respected and pioneering women of the past quarter century was a lesbian is not worthy of mentioning more prominently? According to the obit, Ride was very concerned with promoting women's opportunities in the sciences. She apparently was not as interested in promoting opportunities, or visibility at least, for gays and lesbians (at least, no such efforts are mentioned), which is a shame. But assuming that she was not out before her death, I don't think we can judge this as a failing. We all do what we can, and play the role we are most comfortable with. Now that the information is in the open, the LGBT community has another heroine to claim as our own and celebrate posthumously. 
 
 I'm not so understanding. We can judge this decision in the context of Ride's life. Her achievements as a woman and as a scientist and as an astronaut and as a brilliant, principled investigator of NASA's screw-ups will always stand, and vastly outshine any flaws. But the truth remains: she had a chance to expand people's horizons and young lesbians' hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to. 
 
 She was the absent heroine. 
 
 (Photo: Sally Ride in June 1983, on the shuttle "Columbia." NASA / AP Photo)
– A sample of some of the commentary after the death of Sally Ride, who became the first US woman in space in 1983: Helene McLaughlin, GeekMom: "I was nine years old when I first wanted to be an astronaut and my first hero was Sally Ride," writes the astrophysicist. Her "life was filled to the brim with adventure and inspiration," and the company she founded will continue to inspire young girls. Meg Urry, CNN: She used her "fame for good," writes the Yale professor. Ride could have sat back after her historic shuttle trip, but "instead, she took on the great challenge of science literacy, especially for girls." Her legacy can be found in the youngsters she's still inspiring. Andrew Sullivan, Daily Beast: Her professional achievements may be brilliant, but Sullivan wishes she were more of a trailblazer in her personal life. Ride was lesbian, which didn't become widely known until she died (as BuzzFeed notes). "She had a chance to expand people's horizons and young lesbians' hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to," writes Sullivan. "She was the absent heroine."