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Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.

Sally Ride

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Sally Ride
Age: 61 †
Born: 1951
Born: May 26
Died: 2012
Died: July 23
Astronaut
Astrophysicist
Physicist
University Teacher
Writer
LA
California
Dr Sally Kristen Ride
Sally Ride- Hawley
Sally Kristen Ride
American
Woman
Firsts
First
Feel
Feels
Special
Responsibility
Space

More quotes by Sally Ride

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After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.
Sally Ride
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That's something that is almost part of being human and I'm certain that will continue.
Sally Ride
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I had both male and female heroes.
Sally Ride
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I can't remember a single time [my parents] ever told me not to do something I wanted to do.
Sally Ride
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I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.
Sally Ride
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So most astronauts getting ready to lift off are excited and very anxious and worried about that explosion - because if something goes wrong in the first seconds of launch, there's not very much you can do.
Sally Ride
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But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
Sally Ride
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On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.
Sally Ride
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All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.
Sally Ride
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It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission.
Sally Ride
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Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.
Sally Ride
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I did not come to NASA to make history.
Sally Ride
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It was a real honor for me to get to be the first woman astronaut. I think it's really important that young girls that are growing up today can see that women can be astronauts too. There have actually been a lot of women, who are astronauts, that that's a career that's open to them.
Sally Ride
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I find myself looking around for other new, interesting opportunities to dive into.
Sally Ride
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Weightless is a great equalizer.
Sally Ride
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I think maybe it's too bad that our society isn't further along and this is such a big deal. I think it's time...that people realize that women in this country can do any job they want to do.
Sally Ride
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The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.
Sally Ride
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Once you are assigned to a flight, the whole crew is assigned at the same time, and then that crew trains together for a whole year to prepare for that flight.
Sally Ride
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It's easy to sleep floating around - it's very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don't float into somebody or something!
Sally Ride
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I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long-term career than tennis.
Sally Ride