[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING SALLY RIDE

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I know that you and all of our colleagues 
will want to join me today in paying tribute to Dr. Sally Ride, the 
first American woman to fly in space, who died peacefully on Monday at 
her home in San Diego, CA. Sally Ride was 61 years old.
  Dr. Ride was a physicist, an astronaut, a science writer, and the 
president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a nonprofit company dedicated 
to realizing her lifelong passion for motivating young people to stick 
with their interests in science and to consider pursuing careers in 
science, technology, engineering, and math.
  Sally Ride was born and grew up in Encino, CA. As a young girl, she 
was encouraged by her parents to pursue her two passionate interests: 
science and sports. At Stanford University, she studied physics, 
astrophysics, and English literature while becoming the school's number 
one women's tennis player. When asked what had made her choose science 
over tennis, she joked, ``A bad forehand.''
  In 1977, as she was about to complete her Ph.D. in physics, Sally 
read that NASA was looking for astronauts and, for the first time, was 
allowing women to apply. From a group of 8,000 applicants, NASA 
selected 29 men and 6 women--including Sally Ride--as astronaut 
candidates in January 1978. The following year, she qualified for 
assignment on a space shuttle flight crew.
  On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride made history as the first American woman 
in space, part of a 147-hour mission aboard the shuttle Challenger. She 
later said, ``The thing that I'll remember most about the flight is 
that it was fun. In fact, I'm sure it was the most fun I'll ever have 
in my life.''
  Sally Ride's historic space flight riveted the Nation and made her a 
household name--a symbol of women's ability to break barriers and 
achieve any goal, no matter how lofty. She immediately understood and 
appreciated her place in history, crediting the women's movement of the 
1970s with paving her way into the space program.
  Dr. Ride made another space flight in 1984 and was preparing for a 
third when the Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff on January 28, 
1986. She served on the Presidential commission investigating the 
Challenger tragedy and worked at NASA headquarters as special assistant 
to the administrator before retiring from NASA in 1987.
  After serving as a science fellow at Stanford's Center for 
International Security and Arms Control, Dr. Ride joined the faculty at 
the University of California, San Diego as a physics professor and 
director of the California Space Institute.
  In 2001 she founded Sally Ride Science to create educational programs 
that entertain, engage, and inspire young people. She served on the 
President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, the 
National Research Council's Space Studies Board, and the boards of the 
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington, and the NCAA Foundation.
  Sally Ride pushed the limits of knowledge, courage, and 
accomplishment for all Americans, especially for girls and young women. 
As a pioneer in the final frontier of space, she showed millions of 
American girls that there was truly no limit on what they can do or 
where they can go.
  On behalf of the people of California, who have been so moved and 
inspired by Sally Ride's life and legacy, I send my deepest 
appreciation and condolences to her partner of 27 years, Tam 
O'Shaughnessy; her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin; 
and her nephew, Whitney.

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