Astronaut Sally Ride was a deeply private person and it wasn't until after her death on July 23, 2012, that the world began to catch a rare glimpse into her kaleidoscope private life. Now, with the release of Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space, the introvert's truth is finally being told.
Through funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking memories and personal photographs spanning childhood days to post-outer space endeavors, this book is an intimate journey into the core of what made Ride so special to all of those around her. The tickle-happy romp through unchartered territories is purely delicious, and includes memories spanning the 48-year friendship and 27-year romantic relationship of Ride and partner Tam O'Shaughnessy.
"I wrote this book because I wanted young people—girls and boys—to know who Sally really was—what she was like, what she cared about, and some of the cool things she accomplished," O'Shaughnessy said. "There are very few biographies about high profile gay people—especially American heroes. I want young people to come away after reading my book and think, 'Wow, what a fun and fulfilling life.' And, "Love is love, no matter a couple's gender.'"
O'Shaughnessy described Ride as "an easygoing, secure, and confident introvert, with a great sense of humor. As a young girl, Sally loved sports and science. She loved adventure. That's why Sally played competitive tennis; studied physics; became an astronaut; and started a science education company with some friends and me."
Ride's loyalty to her loved ones is apparent throughout the photobiography. O'Shaughnessy masterfully illustrates the importance of lifelong friendships throughout the book's pages. "Sally loved her friends and she kept the same friends her whole life adding some along the way," she explained.
Although the intricacies of science came fairly easily to Ride, that didn't mean she felt she could rest on her laurels.
"Sally worked really hard," O'Shaughnessy said. "Many young people think you have to be a genius to be good at science or to become an astronaut. Sally would tell them, 'No way. To be good at anything, you need to work hard. And in most things it helps if you know how to get along with other people and enjoy working on a team."
"Most people think of Sally only as an astronaut," O'Shaughnessy revealed. "She was actually an astronaut for only eight years. She was very proud of being an astronaut and of being America's first woman in space. But that was just one aspect of her life. After she left NASA, Sally became a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego, and, with me, an award-winning writer of science books for children."
After retiring from NASA in 1987, Ride could've cashed in on her celebrity, but that trait was not in her DNA. Instead, Ride used her high profile to champion a cause she cared about passionately—igniting students' enthusiasm for science and piquing their interest in careers in science, technology, engineering, and math ( STEM ). In 2001 Sally, along with Tam, Karen Flammer, and two like-minded friends, started a science education company, Sally Ride Science, to achieve those goals.
"Sally was interested in doing things that were meaningful to her and that would make a difference to others—especially young people," O'Shaughnessy said. "Sally seldom looked ahead or behind in life. She truly lived in the moment and was 'there' with you or with her work without the usual distractions."
Speaking of distractions, pictured throughout Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space are the couple's former four-legged love bugs.
"Sally loved dogs and had one throughout most of her life; she was very gentle and easygoing with them," O'Shaughnessy remembered. "When we got two bichon puppies, I wanted them to learn not to get up on our bed or the couches in the living room. Sally agreed. Then, she just couldn't go through with it; so, the doggies slept with us and jumped on the couches to be next to us…much to my initial resistance."
These rare glimpses into an extremely private time are what make this photobiography masterful. It took O'Shaughnessy two years to finish the book. The first few months were spent sorting through Ride's memorabilia and personal artifacts.
"I found it easy to select the items I wanted to tell her story across her whole life," O'Shaughnessy said. "I was going to layout the images and then write to them, but that didn't work for me. So I wrote the story of Sally's life and my part in it first and then selected the images to go with the text. Before I started writing I knew how I wanted to end the book."
The decision to document Ride's life in photos was intentional.
"Sally was a great keeper of mementoes throughout her life," O'Shaughnessy said. "She started saving things at a very young age—she saved tennis membership cards for the Southern California Tennis Association and U.S. Tennis Association; driver's licenses; graduation programs from high school and Stanford; ID cards for college and NASA. Her parents were great savers, too. Sally's mother, Joyce, gave me boxes of Sally's school report cards, drawings and letters to her grandparents, and family photographs and artifacts. So I had a treasure trove of photographs and memorabilia—it just made sense to share some of these in the biography. I liked the idea of writing a book that was spare and impressionistic in text but rich in images. That lets the reader fill in the gaps in a very personal way."
The world will soon get to witness Ride's personal and professional belongings in another type of intimate setting. On Oct. 6, 2015, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum ( NASM ) will join O'Shaughnessy in announcing the official opening to the public of the Sally Ride Collection.
The Collection includes Ride's papers and artifacts from across her life—her wooden Dunlop Maxply tennis racket and small telescope from childhood; her physics notes and Shakespeare essays from Stanford; her notes on the Challenger and Columbia spaceshuttle accident investigations; her physics lecture drawings on space exploration for UCSD undergraduates; her children's science books co-written with Tam; her STEM advocacy work through Sally Ride Science.
The official publication launch of Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space will also be shared at the ceremony. NASM Space Historians and Curators Valerie Neal and Margaret Weitekampe and NASM Archivist Patti Williams will join O'Shaughnessy to hold a panel discussion about Ride's impact on the U.S. space program and space exploration, as well as science education. The event will be televised live and archived on NASA TV.
"Sally was an extremely private person. But, I think she would like this book," O'Shaughnessy shared.
We would have to agree.
Find out more about Sally Ride, Sally Ride Science and Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space at sallyridescience.com .
