" It's too bad that society isn't to the point yet where the country could just send up a woman astronaut and nobody would think twice about it."

       Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, California.  In 1968, Sally graduated from West Lake School for Girls in Los Angeles.  Later in life, Sally went to Stanford University and got many degrees.  After college she began astronaut training.  She then accepted a job at NASA.  While working for NASA, she fell in love with Steven Hawley and they were soon married.  In 1984, Sally launched the "Challenger" along with seven other astronauts.  In the year of 1986, her first book, To Space and Back, was published.  After five years of being married to Steven, she divorced him and quit working at NASA to contemplate a two-year appointment at Stanford University.  In 1989, Sally resigned from Stanford and started a job at the University of California in San Diego as a part-time director of the California Space Institute.  In 1992, her book, An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System, was published.  Sally Ride has always been a role  model for girls of all ages.

To find  out more about Sally Ride, try these great websites!!

Biography of Sally Ride
http://www.galegroup.com/library/resrcs/womenhst/rides.htm

National Women's Hall of Fame:  Sally Ride
http://www.greatwomen.org/ride.htm

Profile of Sally Ride (History Channel)
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/womenhist/bios_html/rides.html