#sally ride

[arctic-hands]

I'm not upset discussions of Sally Ride these days don't leave out the fact that she was a lesbian and therefore the first known queer person in space (albeit a fact only known after her death), but I hate that the fact that what is left out is that she, while part of the Roger's Commission after Challenger exploded, was the whistleblower who made sure the information for the defects of the O-rings made its way to Richard Feynman, who then famously, publicly, and on camera demonstrated how icy coldness (such as the cold and icy weather the morning before Challenger launched) could critically deform the O-rings used and keep them from forming a seal. This was also only revealed after she died. (x)

Whenever Sally Ride comes up these days among my (overwhelmingly queer) friends, we all acknowledge that she was a lesbian and celebrate what a role model she was not just for girls but for queer kids (and adults) too, but everyone is always surprised when I bring up the whistleblowing thing, which I think is damn shame and a disservice to her legacy.

[queerasfact]

Happy bi week! The first American woman in space was bi astronaut Sally Ride!

Learn more

[lonestarflight]

"Astronaut Sally K. Ride, mission specialist, is shown here sitting in the front seat and looking out the windows of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger. Ride and four other crew members are onboard the Challenger."

Date: June 18-24, 1983

NASA ID: S83-35783 / STS007-05-029

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was in Sputnik with Sally Ride as we plummeted back into the atmosphere, we held hands and talked about how beautiful it was until we were gone.

[zipadeea]

Ellie Williams is having a great day

[moonwoods]

kristen stewart playing sally ride is something ellie williams would’ve died for

[teachersource]

Did you know? On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space, and the youngest American astronaut.

[doyouevenknowwhatshappening]

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. She pioneered the way for American women in space and still does today, twenty-two years after she passed.

Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.

NASA was still adjusting to female astronauts, and engineers had asked Ride to assist them in developing a "space makeup kit", assuming it would be something a woman would want on board.

They also infamously suggested providing Ride with a supply of 100 tampons for the six-day mission

"Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love animals and want to be zoologists, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in 10 years and know they are on their way." -Sally Ride

On July 1, 1989, Ride became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and director of the California Space Institute (Cal Space), part of the university's Scripps Institution of OceanographyRide and O'Shaughnessy, along with three colleagues, founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 as a science education company. When Ride died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, O’Shaughnessy wrote Ride’s obituary for the company’s website.

The obituary said Ride was survived by “Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years,” revealing their relationship to the public for the first time. Ride had ensured that O'Shaughnessy would inherit her estate when she drew up her will in 1992. They registered their domestic partnership on August 15, 2011.

Ride and O'Shaughnessy, along with three colleagues, founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 as a science education company. When Ride died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, O’Shaughnessy wrote Ride’s obituary for the company’s website.

[barbielore]

In honour of Lesbian Visibility Day (April 26th) I wanted to touch on a few of the Barbies over the years who represent lesbian women.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Abby Wambach (@abbywambach)

The first lesbian Barbie released - at least to my knowledge, and according to a couple of articles on the subject - was the 2016 Shero Barbie modeled after gold medalist soccer player Abby Wambach.

Technically, of course, this isn't really the case, as there was a Rosie O'Donnell Barbie released in 1999.

O'Donnell didn't come out of the closet as a lesbian until 2002 though, so it may be true that Wambach was the first Barbie modeled after someone known to Mattel as being a lesbian.

In 2019, Barbie included Sally Ride in the Inspiring Women range, and then in 2020, added Billie Jean King. Unlike the Wambach doll, these dolls were actually released as dolls that could be purchased by the general population.

No doubt there are many missing from this post, as of course many, many of the women being honoured by the Sheroes and Inspiring Women lines are honoured for reasons besides their sexual orientation - so although many of them may be queer, it's not always the first thing that pops up on a search.

Mattel has been on and off over the years over whether and how much queer representation they can include in the Barbie brand, but at least they're trying?

[womeninfictionandirl]

Sally Ride by Allison Adams

Astronaut Sally Ride (1951-2012) became the first American woman sent into outer space and and the youngest person ever to be sent into orbit when she flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. She made two shuttle flights and committed her life to educating young people and encouraging them to explore careers in science. “We have to make science cool again,” she said. And indeed she did, as she became a role model for young people, especially girls, so often left out of the sciences, for the next generations.

[allwomenjointhe4bmovement]

I'm sick of bi/het women constantly stealing roles from lesbian actresses!

"It's just acting, it's just acting" stfu first and name 10 lesbian actresses who are academy award winners without looking it up!

Scratch that, name 5! This is NOT representation!!!

[queerasfact]

40 years ago today Sally Ride became the first American woman in space and - to the best of our knowledge - the first queer woman in space - when she took part in the Challenger shuttle mission on 18 June 1983. Sally was chosen for the flight because of her expertise with the shuttle’s robotic arm which lifted satellites into orbit. She described her experience as “the most fun I’ll ever have in my life”.

Learn more

[Image: Sally on the 1983 mission, smiling, in her blue NASA suit in space, with various control panels visible behind her]

[lonestarflight]

During STS-2 Columbia, the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or Canadarm, was tested for the first time and was successfully operated in all its various operating modes.

This mission one of the three fuel cells failed, necessarily the mission to be shortened to two days. These fuel cells produce the electricity for the shuttle and drinking water for the Astronauts. Initially, NASA was going to forego the Canadarm tests. However, Astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly stayed awake during their scheduled sleep period to complete these tests. They were able to complete 90% of the planned objectives during the shortened mission.

In mission control, Sally Ride was the Capsule Communications Operator (CapCom), and was the first woman to be in this position. CapCom is held by an astronaut who communicates with the crew members in their spacecraft from Mission Control. Ride was chosen as Capcom in part because of her experience and skill in using the Canadarm, and she assisted crew in manuevering it.

View from the elbow camera of the aft bulkhead of Columbia and Sally Ride's reaction to the crew's "Hi Mom" sign.

About 19 months later, Sally Ride became the first American female Astronaut to fly into space aboard STS-7 Challenger.

Date: November 13, 1981

NASA documentary about the STS-2 mission: link

NASA ID: STS002-12-833, STS002-13-226, S81-34005, S81-33963

[endapartypod]

This week, Chris tells April all about astronaut, educator, and queer icon Sally Ride.

LISTEN HERE

[eves-da-best]

Eve Best as Sally Ride - The Challenger Disaster (2013)

[clutchandstuds]

Classic Space.