Sally Ride Facts for Kids

A picture of Sally Ride
  • Name: Sally Kristen Ride
  • Born: May 26th, 1951
  • Died: July 23rd, 2012
  • Education: Stanford University (BA, BS, MS, PhD)
  • Space Agency: NASA
  • Missions: STS-7 and STS-41-G

15 Sally Ride Facts for Kids

  1. Sally Ride was an American astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
  2. Sally Ride was 1 of 35 people selected to join NASA in the 1978 NASA Astronaut Group 8.
  3. Sally Ride was born on Saturday, May 26th, 1951 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.
  4. Sally Ride died on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 in La Jolla, California, USA. She died due to complications from pancreatic cancer 17 months after she was diagnosed.
  5. Sally Ride is the daughter of Dale Burdell Ride and Carol Joyce Ride.
  6. Sally Ride graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in English and physics.
  7. Sally Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steve Hawley in 1982, they got a divorce in 1987.
  8. Sally Ride is best known for being the first American woman to travel into outer space.
  9. Sally Ride is also the youngest American astronaut to ever travel into outer space at the age of 32.
  10. Sally Ride was a part of two human spaceflight missions, STS-7 and STS-41-G.
  11. The STS-7 mission was a Space Shuttle mission that deployed several satellites via the Space Shuttle Challenger.
  12. The STS-41-G mission was a Space Shuttle mission that deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) via the Space Shuttle Challenger.
  13. Sally Ride spent 14 days, 7 hours and 46 minutes in space.
  14. Sally Ride retired from NASA on August 15, 1987.
  15. Sally Ride was a professor at the University of California in San Diego, she taught physics.

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