As numerous media outlets are reporting, Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, died today after a battle against pancreatic cancer. She was 61. Ride was truly a trailblazer in many ways and in her post astronaut days she continued her work to inspire young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and engineering. One thing in the CNN coverage jumped out at me:
Ride's office said she is survived by Tam O'Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years; her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear, a niece and a nephew.
Yes, that's right, Ride was apparently a member of the LGBT community albeit this aspect of her life was surprising to many - myself included. Ride is another example of why our history instruction needs to feature accomplished LGBT Americans. Actually, accomplished LGBT individuals of all nationalities. It is a critical tool in ending religious based bigotry against LGBT people and destroying the stereotypes peddled by the far right virtually every day. Here are more details from the CNN piece on Sally Ride's remarkable life that ended all too early:
Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was a private person and the details of her illness were kept to just a few people, she said.
Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32. After her flight, more than 42 other American women flew in space, NASA said.
"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said 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," he said in a statement.
Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California in San Diego.
Ride flew in space twice, both times on Challenger in 1983 and in 1984, logging 343 hours in space. A third flight was cancelled when Challenger exploded in 1986. She was on the commission investigating that accident and later served on the panel for the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident, the only person on both boards. She also was on the president's committee of science advisers.
One of Ride's last legacies was allowing middle school students to take their own pictures of the moon using cameras aboard NASA's twin Grail spacecraft in a project spearheaded by her company. "Sally literally could have done anything with her life. She decided to devote her life to education and to inspiring young people. To me, that's such a powerful thing. It's extraordinarily admirable," said Maria Zuber, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who heads the Grail mission.
