Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951 in Encino, California (near Los Angeles).
Sally started playing tennis at age 10, and became an excellent tennis player. She won a tennis scholarship to Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. After graduation in 1968 she attended Swarthmore College, but dropped out to pursue a career in professional tennis. After three month of hard  practise, Sally decided she was not good enough to become a successful pro. She quit tennis and enrolled at Stanford University.

At 27, with B.A., and masters' degrees, she was a Ph.D. candidate looking for postdoctoral work in astrophysics when she read about NASA's call for astronauts in the Stanford University paper. More than 8,000 men and women applied to the space program that year. 35 were accepted, six of whom were women. One was Sally Ride.

After joining NASA in 1977 Ride underwent extensive training that included parachute jumping, water survival, gravity and weightlessness training, radio communications and navigation. She enjoyed flight training so much that flying became a favorite hobby.
In 1983, Dr. Ride became the first american woman in space on the shuttle Challenger. Her next flight was an eight-day mission in 1984, again on Challenger.
Her cumulative hours of space are more than 343.
Ride was preparing for her third mission when Challenger exploded in 1986.

Dr. Ride retired from NASA in 1987.
Sally has been married but she is now divorsed and has no children.
Ride has written four children's books, " To Space and Back", " Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System", "The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space", and " The Mystery of Mars".

Berömda personer

På svenska

webbmaster: Frida Koskinen