Sally Ride

Sally Ride was the first American woman to go up in space. She is my hero because she showed that women have the same rights as men.

Sally Ride loved sports when she was young. She had always dreamed of joining the Los Angeles baseball team. As a young child, Sally played baseball and football with neighborhood boys. Her mother introduced her to tennis, and by the age of ten, she had won a place on the U.S. junior tennis circuit. She was awarded a scholarship to the Westlake School in Los Angeles. She enjoyed tennis very much, and was coached by the Olympic player, Billie Jean King. After her stint on the tennis circuit, Ride studied Physics and English Literature at Stanford University. She considered a career as a literature professor before deciding, instead, to study astrophysics.

While she was finishing school, she saw a newspaper advertisement in which NASA was requesting "mission specialists" for its space shuttle program. Ride answered the ad. After a long selection process, NASA offered Ride the chance to become an astronaut.

The job required a year of arduous training. Ride's first liftoff was in June, 1982, on the Space Shuttle Challenger. She flew once more on the Challenger in 1984. After the Challenger exploded in 1986, Ride was one of the people commissioned by the government to look into the accident and make suggestions. Afterwards, she worked as a NASA administrator in Washington D.C., before retiring from the space program.

Sally Ride now teaches Physics at the University of California, San Diego, and is active in developing space-related Internet sites, including Imaginary Lines, created to provide support for girls who are, or might become, interested in science, math and technology.