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The first first female astronaut to rocket into space encourages girls to study science and math as their pathway to the stars.
By MIMI RICH
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 2002
On June 18, 1983, an astronaut would make history. Not just by orbiting the Earth, or even by walking on the moon. This amazing astronaut would inspire people everywhere by taking one small step onto the Challenger, and one giant leap for womankind.
Dr. Sally Ride took the ride of her life that day as the first female astronaut to rocket into space. In Tampa recently, she shared her dreams and message that girls should "reach for the stars" in their aspirations.
She was the keynote speaker at a Girl Scouts of the Suncoast Council luncheon in Tampa to honor local Women of Distinction, including Young Woman of Distinction Heather Samuelson of Palm Harbor, a 17-year-old Senior Girl Scout.
"When I was a little girl, I dreamed of getting the chance to fly in space," Ride told the crowd of mostly women and Girl Scouts. "Amazingly enough, my dream came true."
Ride credits her love of science and math for helping achieve that dream, and she urges girls to pursue those fields despite contrary messages they may hear.
"Society is not putting images out there that indicate to girls that these are great career paths for them to follow," she said. There are lots of women who are scientists and mathematicians, she said, "and by the way, they are normal people!"
Ride said she became fascinated with science in her mid teens. She played competitive tennis and liked using science kits as a student in Encino, Calif.
After high school, she enrolled at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania but later transferred to Stanford University in California, graduating in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She remained at Stanford to do graduate work in astrophysics, X-ray astronomy and to study the behavior of free electrons in a magnetic field. She earned her Ph.D in physics in 1978.
An ad in the Stanford Daily student newspaper caught her eye. The ad was seeking applicants to NASA's astronaut training program. It had been 10 years since NASA had recruited any trainees, so Ride quickly ripped out the ad and dropped her application in the nearest mailbox on her way to teach a class of undergraduates.
Out of 10,000 applicants, Ride was one of 35 candidates chosen to become astronauts.
Intensive training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston prepared Ride and her crewmates to fly aboard the Challenger, from liftoff at Cape Canaveral to situations they might encounter in flight. "You name it, we trained for it," she said confidently.
Ride showed slides of images of the Earth taken from the shuttle. "A highlight was being able to look down at night," she said. "Tracing the eastern coast from Miami at night was absolutely spectacular."
Aboard the Challenger, Ride served as a controller of a remote manipulator, undertaking various tasks including trying to catch a payload in space. Ride also acted as flight engineer. Her flight landed June 24, 1983, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
"The thing that I'll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact I'm sure it was the most fun that I will ever have in my life," she said.
Sally Ride is currently a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. She also is the co-founder and CEO of Imaginary Lines, Inc., a company dedicated to inspiring young girls, around middle school age, to love math and science and pursue careers in those fields.
"Girls need the support, they need the encouragement, they need the role models, they need the mentors," she said. They need to see women not stop dreaming.
Ride follows her own advice. If she could go into space one more time, she said, she dreams of going to Mars. "People have been to the moon, but nobody has set foot on another planet."
-- Mimi Rich, 11, is in the sixth grade at Safety Harbor Middle School.