Latest news with #SallyRide
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A new documentary looks at the pioneering American astronaut Sally Ride
The new documentary 'Sally' chronicles the life and career of Dr. Sally Ride, the first woman to go into space. Director, producer and writer Christina Costantini and Executive Producer and Ride's life partner Tam O'Shaughnessy join Morning Joe to discuss.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid: An imperfect addition to the lesbians-in-space genre
Atmosphere Author : Taylor Jenkins Reid ISBN-13 : 978-1529152975 Publisher : Hutchinson Heinemann Guideline Price : £20 It's been a good year for lesbians in space. First, the Australian animated film Lesbian Space Princess made its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale. Now, Taylor Jenkins Reid's ninth novel depicts a – literally – cosmic disaster steered by lesbian astronauts. Set in the early 1980s, Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin and Vanessa Ford, two fictional women joining Nasa not long after the first American woman on the moon, Sally Ride. As Joan fulfils her dream of training at Houston's Johnson Space Centre, a wave of gay realisation hits her hard and fast. Just as her early infatuation begins to raise questions about how to live with a same-sex partner in a viciously homophobic world – 'You do realise bringing a woman as your date will make you look like a … you know …" – a 1984 mission threatens to take an apocalyptic turn. There's much talk these days about the screenplayification of novels, the claim that writers are replacing interiority with action and dialogue in a bid to get lucratively optioned. Less discussed is the increasingly default presence of cinematically non-linear narratives. What was once an experiment has become the done thing: 1. opening teaser as close to the end as possible, 2. cut to much earlier in the story, 3. interweave the pursuit of both threads until they join definitively at the end. Atmosphere follows this formula. READ MORE I doubt it would bother the author to have this pointed out. In her recent cover interview with Time, Jenkins Reid shot back at critics who assumed she'd ever been trying to write literary fiction: '[M]aybe I love being Candy Land [Jonathan] Franzen.' The novel's feminism operates at a similar emotional temperature: friendly, with a tendency to flatter the 21st-century reader's existing sensibilities She's not a stylist, and that's fine. Franzen can write Franzen's books. Jenkins Reid's job is to write her own. Her sentences convey character, setting and plot without drawing attention to themselves. Unhindered by the road bump of experimental prose, a casual reader might breeze past the insight often packed into short strings of words. But dialogue like this will seep into you if you let it: 'Have you ever been in love?' 'No, I don't think so.' 'Well, it's like a bad cold: it's miserable and then, one day, it's gone.' The humour is gentle rather than uproarious. Only once did I laugh aloud: '… Hank was the recipient of a very large trust fund. It was a fact that Hank wore with complexity." But there are moments that will elicit a soft smile, as when none of Joan's male colleagues make Nasa's final selection: 'No men from our group, huh?' 'No […] I am afraid they were not up to snuff." [ Taylor Jenkins Reid: 'Marriages are messy. Our lives are messy. Convenient truths don't exist' Opens in new window ] The novel's feminism operates at a similar emotional temperature: friendly, with a tendency to flatter the 21st-century reader's existing sensibilities, rather than to prompt any startling self-interrogation. 'Don't thank me for doing the bare minimum,' a male astronaut tells Joan. 'It does a disservice to us both.' I don't disagree. Does anyone reading this? One could reasonably rejoin that Jenkins Reid had never been trying to prompt any ideological awakening. The greater issue is how present-day online the phrase is. 'The bare minimum' has been kicking around the English language for ages, of course, but its application to men being called feminist pioneers for acts of ordinary decency is distractingly contemporary. 'Thank you for your excellent notes on how I can be scared in a less vulnerable way,' Joan says. 'Did she fumble?' she wonders. She's several decades too early for 'vulnerable' to readily signify performatively confessional femininity, and back in the innocent 1980s the verb 'to fumble' still needed an object. The scattering of these moments is too uneven for it to read as an intentional gesture to modern readers. When the language does embody the context, it's thrilling. Here's a liaison with ground control: 'We are go.' 'Guidance?' 'Go.' 'FIDO?', and on for another 20 lines. I had only the vaguest clue what was happening and I loved it; the texture and energy mattered more than the exact meaning. [ Daisy Jones & the Six: Everyone looks perpetually glamorous, but it's a soulless jingle Opens in new window ] I imagine it will divide gay readers that the HIV epidemic is mentioned only once. 'At that very moment, people all over the country were convinced that Aids was a punishment for moral failing,' muses the narrator in autumn 1983. Two paragraphs later, Joan has returned to wishing she could get married. There is little sense of a broader queer community for the astronauts. Their romance takes place in an intergalactic vacuum – or a near-vacuum, to deploy the scientific precision that Joan would want – while gay people at home die en masse. Some will hate this. Others will respond that we already have enough books on the trauma of those years. Even readers who find the intimacy myopic will, I think, be moved by it at the same time: 'Joan had had no idea how quickly you could learn another's body. How swiftly their legs become your legs, their arms your arms.' May the lesbian space genre continue to boom. This book is an imperfect addition, but one that floats. Naoise Dolan's latest novel is The Happy Couple
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Science
- Business Standard
Menstruation in space: How women astronauts manage periods in orbit
In 1983, when Sally Ride was preparing to become the first American woman in space, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) engineers posed an odd question: Would 100 tampons be enough for her seven-day mission? Her reply: 'That would be more than sufficient.' This awkward exchange has since become a symbol of how unprepared space programmes were for the reality of women's health in orbit. For decades, the male-dominated world of space exploration largely ignored the biological needs of half the population. But now, with more women heading to the stars, the question of how astronauts manage their periods in space has gone from taboo to tech. The early challenges of menstruation in space missions For years, space travel was considered a male domain. When the first astronauts went to space in the 1960s, the systems and suits were built exclusively with them in mind. The mere idea of a woman menstruating in space wasn't even on the checklist. In 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. While a milestone, there's little public documentation on how—or if—her menstrual cycle was addressed. In 1964, a paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology described women as 'temperamental psychophysiologic humans' unsuited for piloting spacecraft. The authors cited studies claiming menstruating women were more accident-prone and even suggested they might be responsible for unexplained air crashes. Some scientists speculated that menstrual blood could flow backward in zero gravity—a myth later debunked by Nasa medical experts. By the time Sally Ride made her historic flight in 1983, Nasa had to face reality: if women were going to space, they'd have periods there too. Unfortunately, the male engineers' understanding of menstruation was limited, to say the least. What happens to menstruation and periods in zero gravity? When it comes to periods in space, one might imagine a ghastly nebula of levitating blood. Scientists had similar worries. But gravity doesn't control your period. It turns out that while spaceflight affects many bodily systems, the female menstrual cycle remains largely unchanged. 'It can happen normally in space, and if women choose to do that, they can,' says Dr Varsha Jain, gynaecologist and researcher at King's College London. Astronaut Rhea Seddon, in a 2010 interview, recalled that female astronauts urged Nasa to treat menstruation as a 'non-problem until [it becomes] a problem.' Since no one knew what to expect, they suggested just sending women up—and bringing them back if anything went wrong. 'I'm not sure who had the first period in space,' Seddon said, 'but they came back and said, 'Period in space, just like period on the ground. Don't worry about it.'' The challenge isn't the menstruation itself—it's managing hygiene and waste in a cramped, pressurised cabin with limited water and privacy. Some waste-disposal facilities on the International Space Station can now handle human blood, but they weren't originally designed to do so. Another challenge is calculating the added weight, storage, and waste management for items like tampons and sanitary products. Why most astronauts suppress periods with hormonal birth control Today, most female astronauts choose to suppress their periods entirely during missions. This is done safely through continuous hormonal birth control—either with pills or long-acting methods such as IUDs or injections. Nasa medical teams now work with astronauts ahead of missions to determine the best approach based on individual needs. Some prefer to keep menstruating naturally, and that option is supported too. Nasa physician and astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor has spoken openly about these choices. 'It's a choice,' she said. 'Some women choose to menstruate, some don't. Either way, we train for it.' Still, long missions—such as a three-year journey to Mars—present new challenges. According to Dr Jain, astronauts on such missions would need about 1,100 pills, adding cost, packaging, weight and waste. That makes long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as implants or hormonal IUDs, a more convenient solution. Inclusive space design: Meeting female astronaut health needs Menstruation is just one part of the larger push to make space travel inclusive. From designing space suits to fit more body types to conducting biomedical research on hormonal differences, space agencies are beginning to acknowledge the diversity of human needs. More than 100 women have flown to space since Valentina Tereshkova, but the systems still lag behind. Future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond will require safe, comfortable and sustainable menstrual care in microgravity. Nasa, the European Space Agency and private companies are now developing improved hygiene systems, reusable products and real-time body monitoring tools. And it's clear: the more women involved in designing space missions, the more thoughtfully inclusive those systems become. Why menstruation in space is a symbol of design equity Managing menstruation in space may seem minor compared to interstellar navigation or building Moon bases. But it highlights a larger truth: The systems we build reflect the people we expect to use them. For too long, spaceflight ignored women's biology. Today, mission checklists include tampons, hormonal therapy and custom-fit suits—paving the way for a future where anyone can go to space as their full, human self. And no, Nasa no longer packs 100 tampons for a seven-day trip. We've come a long way—and still have a long way to go.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
An Inside Look Into the Private Life of Late Astronaut Sally Ride, as Told by Her Partner Tam (Exclusive Clip)
An Inside Look Into the Private Life of Late Astronaut Sally Ride, as Told by Her Partner Tam (Exclusive Clip) originally appeared on Parade. Tam O'Shaughnessy is sharing the true story of her 27-year relationship with iconic astronaut Sally Ride. In National Geographic's new documentary Sally, O'Shaughnessy, 73, gives insight into the pair's partnership for the first time ever, reflecting on their romance and the sacrifices they both made during their decades-long relationship. O'Shaughnessy and Ride were together until the astronaut's death from pancreatic cancer at age 61 in 2012. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 'Most people only know of Sally as the first American woman in space. Of course, that was no small accomplishment! But Sally was so much more,' O'Shaughnessy exclusively tells Parade. 'She was an athlete, a physicist (she thought of herself as a physicist), a science writer and a champion of science education for all students. We kept our relationship private because of the culture of hostility and discrimination toward LGBTQ+ people at the time. Our families and close friends knew we were a couple, but few others did.' O'Shaughnessy goes on to tell Parade that a few days before Ride died in hospice, she told her she wanted to hold a celebration of life for friends, families and colleagues who helped them build their science education company, Sally Ride Science, as well as her friends at NASA. 'Suddenly I wondered out loud, 'Who am I going to be to the people who don't know we were a couple? Who am I going to be to the world?' Sally thought about it for a moment and then said, 'You decide. Whatever you decide will be the right thing to do,'' O'Shaughnessy recalls. 'Shortly after our conversation, I made up my mind. I decided to be honest. I was very proud of Sally, of our extraordinary relationship, and of the life we built together.' As for what it means to O'Shaughnessy that Sally will premiere during Pride month, the former professional tennis player says there's no better time, explaining to Parade what she hopes people from the LGBTQ+ community will take away from the documentary. Related: 85 'Happy Pride Month' Wishes To Send to Friends and Family 'Never let anyone try to tell you what you should do with your life or whom you should love,' she says. 'Just like Sally, think for yourself and follow your heart. This message is especially crucial now, when the rights of the LGBTQ+ community are under attack. Always be true to yourself. That's how Sally lived her life, even though she kept a part of it private. It's a powerful and universal message.' Directed, written and produced by Emmy Award-winning director Cristina Costantini, Sally also features appearances by tennis legend and advocate Billie Jean King, ex-husband Steve Hawley, fellow NASA class of 1978 astronauts Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher and John Fabian, sister Bear Ride, mom Joyce Ride and longtime friend and journalist Lynn Sherr. Watch Parade's exclusive clip of Sally, which premieres Monday, June 16, on National Geographic and is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu the following day, below. An Inside Look Into the Private Life of Late Astronaut Sally Ride, as Told by Her Partner Tam (Exclusive Clip) first appeared on Parade on Jun 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared.
National Geographic
30-05-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
How Sally Ride blazed a trail for women in space
In June 1983, this barrier-breaking astronaut overcame discriminatory policies—and a sexist society—as the first American woman to launch into orbit. Sally Ride sits in the aft flight deck mission specialist's seat during deorbit preparations. On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7. As one of the three mission specialists on the mission, Ride played a vital role in helping the crew deploy communications satellites, conduct experiments, and make use of the first Shuttle Pallet Satellite. On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride would become the first American woman to launch into space. She had already survived NASA's grueling training and a barrage of tests, but there was another hurdle to cross before she boarded the Challenger space shuttle—overcoming the scrutiny of the media and the public. In the lead-up to the launch, the astronaut fielded questions about menstruation, fashion, and even whether she might cry in space. Despite long-standing biases about women's ability to withstand the rigors of space flight, here's how Sally Ride broke barriers—and changed the face of the space program along the way. Dive into Ride's journey with the award-winning film Sally, airing on National Geographic June 16 and streaming June 17 on Disney+. Sally Ride's early life and career Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Ride successfully turned a childhood interest in science, spurred in part by a chemistry set, into a storied STEM career. Though she almost pursued a career in tennis—she was a nationally-ranked player as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College and then Stanford University—the young Ride instead opted for a career in astrophysics. Ride was completing her doctorate at Stanford when she saw the newspaper ad that would change her life—and the history of space flight. NASA was recruiting for its 1978 class, and for the first time, women were invited to apply. Though women had already been to space—Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova had paved the way in 1963—NASA had long resisted the idea of women astronauts. In the early 1960s, 13 women participated in a privately funded program designed to test whether women could succeed in space. But though the group passed the same set of tests as NASA astronauts, the Woman in Space Program was ditched in 1962. (Here's why women may be best suited for spaceflight.) That year, during Congressional hearings on the feasibility of sending women to space, astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified against the program, claiming women were not qualified because they were not military test pilots—a longstanding requirement for NASA astronauts—even though that profession, too, was closed to women. But by the time Ride applied to the agency in 1978, NASA had dropped that requirement. As Ride read the ad's list of applicant qualifications, she realized that, in her words, 'I'm one of those people.' Indeed, she was one of six women selected for the class of 35 out of an applicant pool of 8,000. The Challenger shuttle lifts off from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 18, 1983. With this historic launch, Sally Ride became America's first female astronaut to go into space. This was Challenger's second mission and the seventh space shuttle launch. Photograph by Robert Alexander, Archive Photos/Getty Sally Ride and her fellow women astronauts kept their heads down and tried their best not to garner special attention. Five years later, after mastering various behind-the-scenes roles at mission control and helping develop the International Space Station's robotic arm, Ride was chosen as a crew member for mission STS-7, a June 1983 flight on the Challenger shuttle. (Read how Ride helped inspire this astronaut hopeful.) The media and NASA itself struggled to figure out what to make of the personable, straightforward scientist. As it prepared for the flight, NASA suggested she take 100 tampons for a week-long mission and even created a makeup kit for her to take to space. (She didn't.) Meanwhile, the media barraged her with frivolous questions. 'Everybody wanted to know what kind of makeup I was taking up—they didn't care about how well-prepared I was to operate the arm or deploy communication satellites,' Ride had told feminist leader and political activist Gloria Steinem in a 1983 interview. Despite the pressure, Ride's first flight—a six-day satellite deployment and retrieval mission—was a success, landing at Edwards Air Force Base on June 24, 1983. So was her second mission, an eight-day flight in 1984. And though Ride's third flight was canceled after the Challenger was lost, she continued to work for NASA. She retired from NASA in 1989, becoming a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the University of California Space Institute. She later created her own company, Sally Ride Science, designed to encourage girls and women to pursue STEM careers. Sally Ride stands near the monodisperse latex reactor experiment and displays the array of tools at her disposal on the mid deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger. Ride and four other astronauts aboard shared duties aboard the reusable spacecraft. Astronaut Sally Ride communicates with ground controllers from the mid deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger. Ride monitored the continuous flow electrophoresis system experiment during the mission. Ride broke barriers in life and in death. On July 23, 2012, she died of pancreatic cancer at just 61—and the obituary that she had prepared prior to her death included a line about her 27-year-long relationship with a woman, her business partner Tam O'Shaughnessy. Coming out during her life 'doesn't seem to have occurred to her and certainly would have jeopardized her chance to go to space if not killed it outright,' wrote Ann Friedman for The American Prospect, noting that as late as 1990, seven years after Ride first went to space, NASA had made moves to disqualify people from the space program based on their sexual orientation. Though that rule was never passed and the agency now has an office dedicated to its LGBTQ employees, there has never been an openly LGBTQ astronaut. In 2013, Ride was posthumously awarded Ride the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. There have been other American women in space, however—more than 40 of them—and in 2019, American astronauts completed a historic all-woman spacewalk. 'Now people don't notice there are women going up on space shuttle flights,' Ride said in 2002. 'It's happening all the time.' Today, the very normalcy of women's participation in the space program is a testament to Ride's pioneering career—and, by 2024, NASA may even land the first woman on the moon as part of its upcoming Artemis mission. Sally begins airing on National Geographic June 16 and streams on Disney+ June 17. Check local listings. Sally Ride's iconic flight jacket. Ride wore this uniform on her historic first ride into space on June 18, 1983, with the STS-7 space shuttle mission. Photograph by Mackenzie Calle, Nat Geo Image Collection In 2019, Sally Ride's image was immortalized in a Barbie doll. Ride serves as a role model for generations of young women. Photograph by Mackenzie Calle, Nat Geo Image Collection
