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For quite some time, women at NASA only had scientific backgrounds.

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
Quite
Women
Time
Nasa
Backgrounds
Scientific

More quotes by Sally Ride

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I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle.
Sally Ride
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For whatever reason, I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.
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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Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.
Sally Ride
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There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, ... Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences.
Sally Ride
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When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.
Sally Ride
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But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.
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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Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.
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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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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The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it.
Sally Ride
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If they asked me if I wanted to go into space tomorrow, I'd do it in a heartbeat. On the other hand, if they asked me if I wanted to go into training for three years and then go into space again, I'd probably say no.
Sally Ride
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Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.
Sally Ride
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The rockets light! The shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire.
Sally Ride
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I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help.
Sally Ride
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NASA has to approve whatever we wear, so there are clothes to choose from, like space shorts - we wear those a lot - and NASA T-shirts.
Sally Ride
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The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class - my class had 29 men and 6 women - those men were all very used to working with women.
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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We need to make science cool again.
Sally Ride