July 24, 2012

United States astronaut Sally Ride died on July 23 at the age of 61. Ride was the first American woman–and, at the age of 32, the youngest American–to fly in space. Her flight aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 inspired many young women to pursue careers in science, mathematics, and technology at a time when men still overwhelmingly dominated those fields.

Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles. She studied at Stanford University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in English and physics in 1973, a master’s degree in physics in 1975, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1978. During her time at Stanford, Ride became a nationally ranked tennis player and briefly considered a career as a professional. However, she instead answered a job advertisement posted by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and was accepted as an astronaut candidate in January 1978. By that time, the Soviet Union had already sent a woman into space. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times in 1963.

Sally K. Ride became the first U.S. woman in space on June 18, 1983. In this photograph, Ride eats a meal on the shuttle Challenger during her second shuttle flight in October 1984. (courtesy of NASA)

In her early years at NASA, Ride studied engineering and contributed to the development of a robotic arm for the space shuttle. That work, in part, brought her to the attention of Captain Robert L. Crippen, who chose her to serve as a mission specialist aboard the Challenger mission he commanded in 1983. A crowd of some 250,000 people at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, chanted “Ride, Sally Ride” as the shuttle took off on June 18. During the nearly six-day mission, Ride used the robotic arm to deploy and retrieve a satellite. She flew a second mission aboard Challenger in 1984 and was slated to fly a third. However, when Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in January 1986, future flights were suspended, and Ride retired from NASA in 1987. Then-President Ronald Reagan appointed her to serve on the commission investigating the tragedy, in which seven crew members were killed. Ride later also served on the federal panel investigating the second shuttle disaster–the disintegration of Columbia in February 2003 as it reentered the atmosphere after a mission. All seven crew members aboard were killed.

In 1989, Ride became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the California Space Institute. In 2001, she founded a company called Sally Ride Science that creates science programs for upper elementary and middle school students, their teachers, and their parents. According to Ride, she wanted to “make science and engineering cool again.”

Upon hearing of her death, President Barack Obama called Ride “a national hero and a powerful role model.” But perhaps Gloria Steinem, co-founder of Ms. magazine and a leading supporter of the women’s liberation movement in the United States, best captured the impact of Ride’s achievement when she said in 1983, “Millions of little girls are going to sit by their television sets and see they can be astronauts, heroes, explorers, and scientists.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Space exploration 1983 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 1984 (Back in Time article)

April 18, 2012

The U. S. space shuttle Discovery made its final voyage on Tuesday, April 17, hitching a ride aboard a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Discovery was flown from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. There, the shuttle is to become an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly. Discovery replaced the shuttle prototype Enterprise, which will go on exhibit in New York City.

Columbia was the first space shuttle to be launched into space, in 1981. (Courtesy of NASA)

Discovery first flew into space in August 1984, on a mission to deploy three communications satellites. It was the third shuttle in the fleet, following Columbia and Challenger. Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space in 1990. After the explosions of Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, Discovery, along with the shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour, carried on the task of ferrying parts and crew members to build the International Space Station (ISS). Construction of the ISS began in 1998, and the shuttles completed the delivery of major station modules by 2011. Discovery flew 39 missions in all, more than any other shuttle. Since its first flight, Discovery has logged more than 148 million miles (238 million kilometers) and spent a cumulative 365 days in space.

The U.S. fleet of space shuttles was instrumental in building the ISS, a space station program in which 15 nations are involved.  (Courtesy of NASA)

President George W. Bush announced plans in 2004 to end the space shuttle program. By that time, engineers had become concerned about the safety of the aging vehicle–the first reusable spacecraft. The government determined that private contractors would take over the shuttle’s responsibilities at the ISS and that NASA would devote its resources to exploring space. The shuttle Endeavour was slated to be put on exhibit in Los Angeles, while Atlantis was to remain at the Kennedy Space Center. Nearly 2,000 people gathered to see Discovery’s final voyage and to mark the end of an amazing era of space exploration.

Additional World Book articles:

• Thirty Years of Discovery (a special report)
• Seeing the Universe in a Different Light (a special report)
• Space exploration 1981 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 1984 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 1986 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 1990 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 2000 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 2003 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 2011 (Back in Time article)

Nov. 16, 2011

Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, docked successfully at the International Space Station today. The Soyuz, which took off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome (space-launch facility) in Kazakhstan on November 14, is now the only means of reaching the Space Station. The United States retired its space shuttle fleet in July of this year. (The space shuttle, which was initially launched in 1981, was the first reusable spaceship and the first spacecraft able to land at an ordinary airfield.) 

The International Space Station functions as an observatory, laboratory, and workshop. Copyright NASA.

The International Space Station, a large, inhabited Earth satellite, is operated by more than 15 nations. It orbits Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers). The initial sections were first launched into space in 1998. The station has been inhabited since 2000. The first full-time crew consisted of U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. The station’s crew operates various kinds of laboratory equipment that measures the effects of space conditions on biological specimens–including on themselves.

Additional World Book articles:

• Rocket
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Space exploration
• Space exploration 1981 (Back in Time article)
• Space exploration 1998 (Back in Time article)