Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. She was born on May 26, 1951 in Encino, California. When Sally Ride was ten years old, she began playing tennis and became an extremely good tennis player. She won a scholarship to Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles and was even a ranked player on the junior circuit board. After practicing to become a professional tennis player for three months, she decided that she wasn’t good enough to be a pro. So she decided to attend Stanford University, where she earned 4 degrees: Bachelor of Arts degree in English, a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, a Masters degree in Physics, and a Ph.D. in Physics.

When Sally Ride was 27 years old, she read an ad in the Stanford University paper and learned that NASA was looking for scientists to work as mission specialists. She applied and was chosen from over 8000 men and women.

At NASA Sally Ride went through a one year extensive training and evaluation program that included parachute jumping, gravity and weightlessness training, and radio communications. On June 18,1983, she became the first women to orbit the Earth when she served as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Sally Ride spent a total of 343 hours in space. 

In 1987, Sally Ride resigned from NASA to join the faculty of Stanford University. Since she resigned from NASA she has been involved with many organizations. These are a few of the positions she has held: the Director of the California Space Institute, a Professor at the University of California, and the President of space.com.

Sally Ride has also written several books that you may enjoy reading. The titles of the books are “The Mystery of Mars”, “To Space and Back”, “The Third Planet: Exploring Earth From Space”, and “Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System”

You can write to Sally Ride at the following address:

Dr. Sally Ride
Director
California Space Institute
University of California at San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093

If you would like to receive a response, make sure you include a self-stamped, self-addressed envelope.

For more information on Sally Ride, you can visit the following websites:

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