For quite some time, women at NASA only had scientific backgrounds. — Sally Ride

There are aspects of being the first woman in space that I’m not going to enjoy. — Sally Ride

For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences. — Sally Ride

I think maybe it’s too bad that our society isn’t further along and this is such a big deal. I think it’s time…that people realize that women in this country can do any job they want to do. — Sally Ride

Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space. — Sally Ride

The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it. — Sally Ride

There are lots of opportunities out there for women to work in these fields, … Girls just need support, encouragement and mentoring to follow through with the sciences. — Sally Ride

The astronauts who came in with me in my astronaut class–my class had 29 men and 6 women–those men were all very used to working with women. — Sally Ride

I think it’s important for little girls growing up, and young women, to have one in every walk of life. So from that point of view, I’m proud to be a role model! — Sally Ride

I had both male and female heroes. — Sally Ride

So I decided on science when I was in college. — Sally Ride

We need to make science cool again. — Sally Ride

Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing. — Sally Ride

I liked math–that was my favorite subject–and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science. — Sally Ride

I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long–term career than tennis. — Sally Ride

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It’s posing questions and coming up with a method. It’s delving in. — Sally Ride

I didn’t really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college. — Sally Ride

Different astronauts sleep in different ways. — Sally Ride

Some astronauts sleep in sort of beds–compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom. — Sally Ride

One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure. — Sally Ride

On both of my flights, everything went very well. — Sally Ride

The thing I’ll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact, I’m sure it was the most fun that I’ll ever have in my life. — Sally Ride

So most astronauts are astronauts for a couple of years before they are assigned to a flight. — Sally Ride

My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane. — Sally Ride

The most anxious time was during launch, just because that is so dramatic. — Sally Ride

I can’t remember a single time [my parents] ever told me not to do something I wanted to do. — Sally Ride

Well, we spend an awful lot of our time working and doing experiments. It’s very busy up on the shuttle. — Sally Ride

Once you are assigned to a flight, the whole crew is assigned at the same time, and then that crew trains together for a whole year to prepare for that flight. — Sally Ride

After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong. — Sally Ride

Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it’s not the same–it’s not even close to the same. — Sally Ride

So most astronauts getting ready to lift off are excited and very anxious and worried about that explosion–because if something goes wrong in the first seconds of launch, there’s not very much you can do. — Sally Ride

The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re–entry–astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency. — Sally Ride

The rockets light! The shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire. — Sally Ride

It’s easy to sleep floating around–it’s very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don’t float into somebody or something! — Sally Ride

The food isn’t too bad. It’s very different from the food that the astronauts ate in the very early days of the space program. — Sally Ride

Our future lies with today’s kids and tomorrow’s space exploration. — Sally Ride

Nasa has to approve whatever we wear, so there are clothes to choose from, like space shorts–we wear those a lot–and Nasa T–shirts. — Sally Ride

It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission. — Sally Ride

I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals. — Sally Ride

But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program. — Sally Ride

I do a lot of running and hiking, and I also collect stamps–space stamps and Olympics stamps. — Sally Ride

When you’re getting ready to launch into space, you’re sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen. — Sally Ride

No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high–risk, and are prepared for accidents. — Sally Ride

The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident. — Sally Ride

Three Secrets to Success: Be willing to learn new things. Be able to assimilate new information quickly. Be able to get along with and work with other people. — Sally Ride

The experience of being in space didn’t change my perspective of myself or of the planet or of life. I had no spiritual experience. — Sally Ride

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary. — Sally Ride

Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle’s robot arm to release a satellite into orbit. — Sally Ride

The view of Earth is spectacular. — Sally Ride

Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine. — Sally Ride

I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle. — Sally Ride

On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background–the commander and the pilot. — Sally Ride

It’s too bad our society isn’t further along. — Sally Ride

I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it’s going to have to be with NASA’s help. — Sally Ride

You know, I go around the country a lot. — Sally Ride