Sally Ride was the first American woman to travel to space.
Although she was not the first woman to achieve it (that milestone had been achieved by the Russian Valentina Tereshkova), this feat triggered the imagination of dozens of girls and adolescents in the world.
So far only 75 women, out of 566 people in total, have traveled into space.
In June 1983, Ride, along with his team, remained more than 17 days around the Earth, as part of NASA’s STS-7 mission.
In 2012, when she died at the age of 61 due to pancreatic cancer, she was honored, among them, by the US president at the time, Barack Obama.
“As the first American woman to travel to space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model,” Obama said.
But in recent days his name has once again been in the media headlines due to the special mention made of his figure in the hit series “The Last of US” on the HBO Max streaming channel.
The series, which is based on a video game of the same name, is about two people trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world overrun by zombies.
In the last chapter of the first season broadcast this Sunday, the protagonist, played by actress Bella Ramsey, points out that if the zombie invasion had not happened, she would have liked to be an astronaut, like Ride.
But how did she come to become one of the first women to visit space?
From tennis to the Universe
Ride was born in the city of Los Angeles and from a very young age she excelled in something very different from outer space: tennis.
She was awarded a scholarship distinct schools for his athletic talent and participated in some national tournaments successfully.
However, when choosing a career, he decided to attend Stanford University where he studied Physics.
Upon graduation, he applied for a job at NASA after seeing a notice at the University calling for scientists and engineers, including women who wanted to be part of the astronaut corps.
She joined NASA in 1978, after being selected among 8,000 applicants.
Then, thanks to her abilities, she was chosen to be part of the crew of the “Challenger” shuttle in 1983.
Her work focused specifically on the use of a robotic arm that she herself had helped develop to recover satellites in Earth orbit.
In this way, she became the first American woman and the third in history to be in space behind the Russians. Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaja.
Later he was on other missions, but perhaps the most difficult moment of his career was the “Challenger” accident in 1986.
Due to her work in previous years, she was included in the space commission created by NASA to investigate what had happened.
The accident, which occurred on January 28, 1986, left seven astronauts dead, but above all, many questions about the space program.
Pioneer and national hero
A year after the Challenger tragedy, Ride left NASA, but never his love of space and physics.
Ride became a professor at the University of California and served as a science fellow at Stanford University.
In the midst of her academic work, she founded the Sally Ride Science Institute, which creates science programs and publications for young students, in 2001.
He also wrote five children’s science books.
“The fact that she was going to be the first American woman to go into space raised expectations,” Ride said in a 2008 interview.
“I didn’t really think much of it at the time, but I came to appreciate the honor of being selected,” she said.
In 2011, pancreatic cancer was detected. About 10 months after the announcement of the illness, he passed away at his home in La Jolla.
Her exploits have led her to be part of the popular culture of the United States.
In addition to the mention in the popular series “The Last of Us”, Ride has also been the inspiration for a collection of pieces to assemble the brand Lego and the singer Billy Joel included his name in the song “We didn’t start the fire”.
The company Mattel also launched a “Barbie” style doll in tribute to her.
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