I never went into physics or the astronaut corps to become a role model. But after my first flight, it became clear to me that I was one. And I began to understand the importance of that to people. Young… — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
It was a real honor for me to get to be the first woman astronaut. I think it's really important that young girls that are growing up today can see that women can be astronauts too. There have actually been… — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents. — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
The view of earth is spectacular from space. Most people imagine that when astronauts look out the window of the shuttle they see the whole earth like that big blue marble that was made famous by the flights that went to the moon. But the shuttle is much, much closer than those astronauts were. So we don't see the whole… — Sally Ride Copy Share
I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long-term career than tennis. — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
Anything from making a mistake on an experiment that would ruin some scientist on earth's experiment - career, potentially - to doing something wrong with the satellite that a country was depending on for its communications, to making some mistake that could actually cost you and the crew either a mission or your lives. So there is a lot of… — Sally Ride Copy Share
Women make up only 25 percent of the science, engineering and technology workforce... We are delighted to be working with NASA Ames to give… — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit. — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with… — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
It's easy to sleep floating around - it's very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don't float into somebody or something! — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, ... Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow… — Sally Ride Copy Share Image
