Sally Ride was a space pioneer

July 23 (UPI) – NASA astronaut Sally Ride, the first US woman in space, died six years ago

Ride – born in Los Angeles on May 26, 1951 – was among 8,000 people who answered NASA 's call for new astronauts while she was working towards a Ph.D in Physics from Stanford in 1976. [19659002] She was one of the most famous women in the world, and she was one of the most famous women in the world. – 1965 – 1965, first edition

Although the United States famously beat Russia to the moon, Moscow got the better of NASA on two other noteworthy occasions – sending the first human into space, as well as the first woman. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova ventured on low Earth orbit on June 16, 1963, almost exactly 20 years before Ride's flight.

Tereshkova's achievement came during a period of readjustment in the role of women in the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II, those who have had a great deal of courage in the life of the family. "Cathleen Lewis, Curator of International Space Programs and Spacesuits at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum," said UPI. "Women in post-World War II."

Tereshkova and three other women were chosen to train at the Soviet Space Center at Star City, where they were subjected to the same centrifugal wrinkles and zero-G flights as their male counterparts. They were also commissioned as junior lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force and given fight instruction.

By the time she and Tatyana Torchillova were chosen for the Vostok 6 flight, Tereshkova had already become a symbol for the ideal Soviet woman.

She was born in the village of Mbadlenikovo, where her parents worked on a collective farm before her father was killed in World War II. She worked in a textile mill at 18 and later joined a club for parachutists, making over 150 jumps.

"Here is your hero of the Soviet Union, she was working for her country and rebuilding the country, going to space Andriyan Nikolayev and immediately has a baby, "Lewis said. (19659002)

Lewis added the Soviet government took the steps to make it easier for the public. To avoid details of mishaps on Tereshkova's view of the world (19659002) "There were many things that did not go down well. things were covered up, "she said. "There was nothing catastrophic, nothing precisely for the sake of blamed, but enough that it did not leave the same feeling of heroic accomplishment of male cosmonauts."

Yuri Gagarin, for example, had become the first human in Tereshkova – Tereshkova 's Tereshkova' s Tereshkova 's Tereshkova' s Tereshkova 's Terrestrial Fact Sheets (19659002). After the completion of the search for a flight to the United States by Valery F. Bykovsky during their joint mission, while on the Apollo moon missions When did he come back to the United States.

Women's Rise at NASA

Ride found her path to NASA through a deliberate effort at the agency to be more inclusive and hire astronauts from different fields.

When badembling its flight team for Project Mercury, the first human space NASA thing astronauts almost exclusively from test pilot school, a practice that continued until the end of the Apollo program.

In addition to announci NASA historian Jennifer Ross-Nazzal told UPI.

"There had been scientist astronauts selected before, but there was a Real emphasis on the space shuttle orbiter in a lab in space, "Ross-Nazzal said. "

In all, six women – Ride, Anna Fisher," There were a number of folks selected as mission specialists, they did not have to have a lot of them. Shannon Lucid, Judith Resnik, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan – were selected as part of the African-American and Asian-American astronauts.

When she was chosen to become a first American woman in space aboard STS-7 in 1983, Ride faced many of the same challenges and pressures as did Tereshkova.

Even in the years after she joined, Ride still faced reporters who asked if she would cry if something went wrong while she was in the space flight simulator. Some of the things that have happened in the past of the past century.

"There's really these awkward moments where here's Sally Ride, who is out of the epitome of what feminism is, women may be astronauts, but yet the media continues to rely on these stereotypes that women and technology do not mix, Nazzal said

The media coverage was compounded with pressure, for both Ride and Tereshkova, to prove they were capable of completing a space flight.

"She, of course, felt a great deal of "Ross-Nazzal said of Ride."

In a 1998 interview for the 25th anniversary her flight, Ride recalled the pressure she faced.

"The fact that I was going to be the first woman to go about it, "Ride said. "I was told I was selected as a crew"

"I was taken up to [former NASA flight control manager] Chris Kraft's office. He wanted to have a chat with me and make sure I knew what I was getting into before I went on the crew. I was so dazzled to be on the crew and go into space. "

" I'm not sure what's going on. " 1984 on shuttle mission STS-41G – this time with fellow female astronaut Sullivan

Ride into the sunset

Ride is often considered the pioneer American female astronaut, goal at least 50 women have flown to a great many missions with NASA She was also often thought of – and is sometimes confused with – Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher chosen to fly on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. [19659002] McAuliffe, 37, would have been the fifth woman in space – if Challenger had not exploded just 73 seconds after leaving the launch pad.Residic, just the fourth woman in space, also died in the Challenger disaster – as did astronaut Ronald McNair, the second African American in space. Ame from NASA's clbad of 1978.

"All of the women who were selected in 1978 and 1980 flew the Challenger accident and they went on to do amazing things for the space agency, they all had amazing flights and experiences," said Ross-Nazzal

That clbad of female astronauts went on to inspire other women like Ellen Ochoa, who became the first Hispanic woman in space in 1993 and later the director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Peggy Whitson, who holds the US at 665, also found inspiration in her predecessors.

"There are a number of outstanding women in the public today" , not only Sally Ride, but her other 5 colleagues were selected in 1978, "Ross-Nazzal said. "

Ride was also instrumental in developing the space shuttle robotic arm, which was instrumental on launching the planet and retrieving satellites and making the famous repair of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993.

After her NASA career ended, Ride joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, and founded Sally Ride Science in 2001 with partner Tam O'Shaughnessy, Karen Flammer, Terry McEntee and Alann Lopes.

The organization is based at UC San Diego Extension and seeks to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM, through K-12 education programs.

"The goal STEM literacy and making connections between students and learning STEM fields that are expected to experience rapid growth in the coming decades, "the organization's website states. 59002] Ride died July 23, 2012, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was just 61.

Ride has received a number of honors over the years. An earth camera aboard the International Space Station is named after President Barack Obama in 2013.