Dr Sally Ride BSc in physics, a BA in English literature, an MSc and a PhD in physics, specializing in X-ray interactions with the interstellar medium. So many firsts – as an astronaut, physicist, and educator whose achievements reshaped both space exploration and representation in STEM. In 1983, she became the first American woman in space, flying aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. At just 32 years old, she was also one of the youngest Americans ever. She flew a second mission in 1984 and later served on the presidential commissions investigating both the Challenger and Columbia disasters, contributing her scientific expertise to improving NASA’s safety culture.
After leaving NASA, Ride became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and founded Sally Ride Science, an organisation dedicated to encouraging young people—especially girls—to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
In terms of representation, Ride was also the first known LGB astronaut. Although she kept her private life largely out of the public eye during her lifetime, her long-term partnership with Tam O’Shaughnessy (pictured above) was publicly acknowledged after her death in 2012.
