- [Narrator] They are no heights
queer people can't reach, literally.
Hello and welcome to an episode of
"Historical Icons Who Weren't Actually Straight."
Today's icon is Sally Ride.
She was an astronaut, physicist, tennis player,
and the first American woman to go to space.
Known for her wit and cool composure,
she broke gender barrier after gender barrier
in several male dominated fields and she was gay.
Up first,
♪ Some fast facts ♪
Sally Kristen Ride was born in 1951 to Dale and Joyce Ride.
Dale was a political science professor
and both parents were Presbyterian elders,
no small feat for a woman in that era.
Joyce once responded to a question
on how she had raised such strong, ambitious daughters
with a laugh saying,
"In a way you could look at it as neglect.
Dale and I simply forgot to tell them
that there were things they couldn't do."
As a child, Ride was ambitious, bright,
and extremely good at tennis,
but gave up her plans to go pro to focus on school.
Fascinated by lasers and physics,
Ride went to several schools,
eventually landing at Stanford University in 1973,
where she earned a bachelor's and master's in physics
and a doctorate in astrophysics.
She also picked up an English degree, you know,
just for fun.
In her last doctorate year, 1977,
she saw an ad in the school paper for NASA
and out of 8,000 applicants
she was picked by NASA
as one of only six women astronaut candidates
to join what became known as the 35 new guys.
Dang, Sally, you are a badass.
Unfortunately, Sally and her fellow female trainees
had to handle their fair share of sexism.
Sally answered sexist press conference questions
with humor and composure, retorting at one point,
"Why doesn't anybody ask Rick those questions?"
Described as a reluctant role model,
Ride was often surprised that people were so curious
and impressed with her accomplishments,
seemingly just because she was a woman,
saying, "It may be too bad that our society
isn't further along and that this is such a big deal."
On June 18, 1983, she became the first American woman
and the youngest American ever to go to space.
The 1983 Challenger mission was six days long,
during which she probably did a bunch of cool flips
oh, and also deployed two communication satellites
and carried a variety of experiments on Earth's atmosphere.
In 1984, Ride served on a second space mission
aboard Challenger.
This time she had a friendly face on board,
her childhood friend, Katherine Sullivan,
who became the first American woman to walk in space.
These women were literally out of this world.
In January 1986, Ride was on the ground training
for her third space mission
when an unthinkable tragedy occurred,
the Challenger launch exploded, killing everyone on board.
Ride was subsequently appointed
to the Presidential Commission to investigate the accident.
After the catastrophic event,
NASA suspended shuttle flights for more than two years.
In 1987, Ride decided to explore new adventures
and left NASA.
She taught physics at the University of California
and wrote and collaborated
on multiple children's books on space.
She founded Sally Ride Science,
an organization that encouraged children,
especially young girls and minorities,
to pursue science, math, and technology.
Saying simply, "You can't be what you can't see."
Ride was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 59
and died at home on July 23rd, 2012.
♪ Now onto the queer stuff ♪
Ride was married for five years
to fellow astronaut, Steven Hawley,
and she also privately identified as a gay woman.
Ride preferred to focus on her profession
and never made any public statements about her sexuality.
When Ride was diagnosed with cancer,
she and her life partner of over 27 years,
Tam O'Shaughnessy, decided to be more open
about their relationship,
becoming certified domestic partners in California
and introducing each other as my partner.
It was only in her obituary,
written by O'Shaughnessy with Ride's blessing,
that Ride officially came out to the public.
For the first time, the public learned more
about Ride's personal life
and her long-term relationship with Tam,
a children's science writer, professor,
and former professional tennis player.
They became a couple in 1985,
two years after Sally's first historic space mission.
Although they had first met while playing tennis
when they were 12 and 13.
I guess love does mean something in tennis after all.
Ride's obituary shocked the nation.
Remember, the fight for legalization of same-sex marriage
was raging at this time
and the national Marriage Equality Act
wouldn't pass for another three years in America.
Some thought it an outrage and others celebrated
the discovery of a new LGBTQ icon.
In spite of her fears
about how her sexuality would be perceived,
support for Ride came out tenfold after she died.
Sarah McBride told Space.com
that Ride demonstrated to the world
that LGBTQ people can be astronauts
and that we can be a part of every single field and industry
and that we can do incredible things in those jobs.
And in 2013, president Barack Obama posthumously gave Ride
the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
accepted in person by O'Shaughnessy.
O'Shaughnessy said Ride struggled internally
with accepting her sexuality while working at NASA,
not wanting to hurt the organization by publicly coming out.
She referred to the presentation of the medal
as her and Sally's national coming out,
saying she was grateful for the posthumous recognition.
Ride is still the first and only
acknowledged LGBTQ+ astronaut.
Although she wasn't publicly out during her lifetime,
Ride always pushed for inclusion.
She always advocated for representation
in male dominated careers.
To both O'Shaughnessy and Ride,
not having role models while growing up was difficult.
Tam stated that, "Having role models
that are visible in our society
and around the world is priceless."
Ride shows the less represented that they too
can reach greatness and follow their dreams.
Acknowledgement for Ride's achievements have only grown
as the years go by.
She will be one of the first women featured on quarters
beginning in 2022 and a biopic title "Ride"
to be produced and directed by Joey Solloway
is currently in development.
(triumphant music) ♪ In conclusion ♪
So there you have it.
Sally Ride went all the way to space,
but will forever be remembered for who she was on Earth.
Her legacy opens the door for all of us who come after her
and that's truly stellar.
Check out another episode of "Historical Icons" here.