HUTCHISON, COLLEAGUES INTRODUCE RESOLUTION HONORING FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE, DR. SALLY RIDE Bipartisan Resolution Celebrates Her Legacy and Contributions to Science, Education and Human Spaceflight
BigNews.Biz - Aug 03,2012 - HUTCHISON, COLLEAGUES INTRODUCE RESOLUTION HONORING FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE, DR. SALLY RIDE
Bipartisan Resolution Celebrates Her Legacy and Contributions to Science, Education and Human Spaceflight
Washington, D.C. - On Thursday U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) joined with Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Bill Nelson (D-FL), to introduce a resolution honoring the life and career of pioneering Astronaut Dr. Sally Ride - the first woman from the United States to fly in space - who passed away on July 23 at the age of 61.
"Sally Ride blazed a trail for women around the world," said Sen. Hutchison. "I have always greatly admired her spirit and perseverance in accomplishing her goals and I know her legacy will live on in the millions of girls and women she inspired."
The bipartisan resolution "expresses [the Senate's] deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Sally Ride on her death; mourns the loss of Dr. Ride, a trailblazing pioneer who inspired millions of individuals, especially women and girls, to reach for the stars; and appreciates all of the contributions of Dr. Ride to science, physics, education, and human spaceflight."
Dr. Ride became a role model and hero when she launched her first mission in 1983, becoming the first American woman to enter low Earth orbit. After flying two shuttle missions and serving as a member of the Presidential Commission investigating the Challenger accident, she became a professor, and eventually started "Sally Ride Science" in 2001, a program designed to promote new and exciting ways to engage elementary and middle school students with science at an early age.
Dr. Ride also wrote 5 science books for children, entitled: To Space and Back, The Mystery of Mars, Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System, Exploring Our Solar System, and The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space.
You can read the entire resolution below:
Whereas Dr. Sally Ride was born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, California;
Whereas Dr. Ride graduated high school from Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles in 1968, and received from Stanford University a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973, a Master of Science in 1975, and a doctorate degree in physics in 1978;
Whereas the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (referred to in this preamble as "NASA") selected Dr. Ride as an astronaut candidate in January of 1978;
Whereas Dr. Ride worked on the ground as a communications officer for the second and third NASA space shuttle missions (STS-2 and STS-3) and helped develop the robot arm used by shuttle crews;
Whereas, on June 18, 1983, Dr. Ride became the first woman from the United States to travel in space when she served as a mission specialist for space shuttle mission STS-7;
Whereas Dr. Ride also served as a mission specialist on space shuttle mission STS 41-G, which launched into space from the
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