![]() STS-7 ended with the space shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Ride during her 1983 spaceflight on STS-7. Mission Specialist NASA Astronaut Sally K. Ride operated the shuttle's robotic arm to deploy a satellite and catch it two days later, bringing it back to Earth, another first for a spaceflight mission. Exhilarating, terrifying, and overwhelming all at the same time." "It's an emotionally and psychologically overwhelming experience," she recalled. ![]() She told JSC interviewers the shuttle simulator helped prepare her for the launch but that nothing can prepare you for the feeling of blasting off the Earth. On June 18, 1983, Ride launched with four crew mates on Space Shuttle Challenger. Ride said she responded, "that would not be the right number," and they could cut that in half with no problem. "We want to be safe," she recalled they told her. However, Ride said makeup was the last thing on her mind as she was busy training for her flight.Īnother time, a group of engineers asked her if 100 tampons would be enough to send up for her one-week mission. "A makeup kit brought to you by NASA engineers." "The engineers at NASA, in their infinite wisdom, decided that women astronauts would want makeup-so they designed a makeup kit," she said. Ride described some funny moments leading up to her spaceflight as a primarily male engineer team figured out what a woman would need in space. The 1978 NASA astronaut class was notable for several reasons it included the first women astronauts and the first people of color in NASA's human spaceflight program.Īfter completing her training and serving as Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for two space shuttle missions, Ride was selected in 1982 for the STS-7 mission. After being selected, she said she defended her thesis before driving to Houston to start astronaut training. in physics when she applied to the program. Ride was in the middle of earning her Ph.D. "I wasn’t sure that I should wake them up to give them the news!" "My biggest frustration was that it was five or six in the morning in California, so all my friends and family were asleep," Ride said in the 2002 interview. After flying to Houston to be part of the final 200 candidates and going through a week of interviews, meetings and medical exams, Ride said she learned she was an astronaut candidate during an early morning phone call.ĪSTRONAUTS TO GET A NEW SET OF WHEELS FOR RIDES TO LAUNCH PAD
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