CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride strapped into the space shuttle Challenger to make history as the first American woman in space.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of her voyage, Ride will return to Florida's Space Coast this week to join some of her colleagues in the Astronaut Hall of Fame and to conduct a workshop for middle-school teachers.
"I haven't really sat down and thought, 'Wow, it's 20 years ago,' " Ride said. "But I actually expect to be thinking back on that flight a lot."
Besides her career as an astronaut, Ride is a businesswoman, an author, a professor and former tennis champ. And she is the only person to serve on both of the teams to investigate a space shuttle disaster.
For years, Ride said she enjoyed the honor of being the first woman in space but wanted to be able to blend back into her community an not be recognized. Today, she's more willing to step out publicly and serve as a role model for girls and young women
Ride's induction ceremony into the hall of fame will begin at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) Saturday. Ride will be enshrined along with astronauts Story Musgrave, Robert "Hoot" Gibson and Daniel Brandenstein. About 20 other hall of fame astronauts -- including Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn and Jim Lovell -- are scheduled to attend the event.
In addition, Ride is putting on the first Sally Ride Educator Institute for fifth- to eighth-grade teachers at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Saturday and Sunday. Middle-school teachers can learn how to bring planetary science into the classroom. They will learn hands-on activities for students and attend workshops on how to teach science to boys and girls equally.
If the institute succeeds, Ride said she might conduct them at other sites around the country. Educator astronaut Barbara Morgan will join the upcoming sessions in Brevard.
"The timing is great," Ride said.
When Ride was younger, she actually considered being a professional tennis player and even left college her sophomore year to focus on her game. But eventually, science won out.
She returned to Stanford University after realizing she didn't want to spend all her time practicing. She graduated with a bachelor's degrees in English and bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in physics.
She beat out 8,000 other women in 1978 -- just before finishing her Ph.D. -- for the chance with NASA to go into space.
"The moment I saw the announcement, I knew that that was something that I really wanted to do," Ride said.
During her two shuttle missions Ride operated the shuttle's robotic arm, released communications satellites and did science experiments. It was the first time the arm was used to release a satellite.
She spent 10 years in the astronaut corps and also served as the person in Mission Control that communicates with astronauts when they're in space.
Now, she runs Imaginary Lines, a company that tries to keep girls interested in the sciences as they prepare to enter high school. That's about the time when fewer girls take science classes.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Ride's parents bought her chemistry sets, but she said she never had any outlet like the science festivals where girls could learn science in a fun environment.
After her retirement from the astronaut corps, she joined the faculty of the University of California at San Diego as a physics professor. She has written four children's books about space.
She also got in on the internet boom, as president of SPACE.com, a Web site devoted to space coverage.
And about a month after the Columbia accident, retired Navy Adm. Hal Gehman called Ride to ask her to join the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, the independent group trying to determine what happened to the doomed orbiter.
Ride had previously served on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Challenger accident in 1986.
Ride conducted a day-long Sally Ride Science Festival for middle-school girls at the University of Central Florida in Orlando earlier this year.
"The message that we really want to send to them is just there's just a lot of opportunities out there for them now," Ride said. "There are women in every field, and there are women in every field who would like to help encourage them and answer their questions."
A two-day super festival for girls was also scheduled for next weekend, but Ride and her colleagues canceled it after realizing there was too much going on, including her induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
At the science festival, middle-school girls are able to attend a street fair and participate in workshops on Mars exploration, air-powered cars, animals and how things break, among others. During every science festival, Ride shares some of her personal experiences in space and takes questions from the audience.
Ride hosted a festival at the University of Central Florida on Feb. 2, the day after the Columbia accident.
Her group seriously considered postponing the event. Still, about 700 people showed up. People were that eager to learn more about opportunities for girls in science.
"We had quite a few questions about Columbia, but frankly not as many as I expected," Ride said.
For more information on the Sally Ride Educator Institute for fifth to eighth grade teachers, or to pre-register, call: (800) 561-5161 or visit the Web site www.SallyRideFestivals.com
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2003 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
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