Introduction
There have been many women to grace the halls of NASA’s facilities and engineering labs. Sally K. Ride being one of them, is a national icon and famous for being the first American woman in space. Her achievements, however, far exceed the title she has been given and honored for. Her experience was greatly marginalized regardless of the fact that she called space "an asexual field" (PBS, 1993). In her interviews she often talked about her experience in Space as a woman.
NASA
Her educational endeavors went far and beyond the recognition, they have been given. She completed her education up to a Ph.D. and became an astronaut after enrolling in NASA. Following her total of 343 hours in space, she went on to complete research and participate in other elemental NASA missions behind the scenes. She was key to solving the space shuttle challenger disaster as she was a key part of the commission to investigate the incident. She served as the chief of the NASA office of exploration. Her public outreach programs, as well as her extensive research and thesis, went far above being the first woman in space. (Smithsonian 2014) Her investigation papers reveal that she was a critical part of the team that made modern-day space missions possible.
Dr. Ride Beyond Space
Dr. Sally Ride was also one of the first women to benefit from Title IX passed in the 1970s to ban sex-based discrimination. When she applied, she wound up being one of the only five women who were selected for the class of 78. While female representation in science fields declined over the late 20th century, Dr. Ride inspired hundreds of others to join careers in STEM as American women (Civil Air Patrol, 2020). She was also the first female capsule communicator and flight engineer for her mission. When interviewed before her journey, she was asked what kind of makeup she’d be wearing and how being in space would affect her fertility rather than questions about the mission itself (PBS 1993). Having invented many revolutionary fuel techniques and served on the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, she is still only recognized as the first American woman in space if recognized.