Sally Ride, astronaut, woman, physicist
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, -- and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Rest in peace, Dr. Sally Ride.
* * * * *
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. She obtained her PhD in physics, then joined the space program in 1978. She made her historic first voyage into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, and made a second space flight aboard the Challenger in 1984. She was in training for her third mission when the Challenger exploded, killing everyone on board. Ride was subsequently appointed to help investigate the tragedy. The panel on which she served, the Ride Commission, pinpointed the cause of the explosion and urged NASA to fix the shuttle's faulty solid rocket booster, initiate sweeping management reforms, and beef up safety.