Plaque, Sally K. Ride Elementary School

Object Details

Manufacturer

Honor Trophies

Owner

Sally K. Ride

Summary

The children of Sally K. Ride Elementary School in Woodlands, Texas presented this plaque to Dr. Sally K. Ride in 1984. The Woodlands school is one of several named after Ride, including others in Germantown, Maryland and Los Angeles, California. Ride devoted much of her post-NASA life to promoting science education for children, and she specifically sought to encourage young girls and minority students who are underrepresented in scientific academic programs and careers.

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard STS-7 in 1983. Her second and last space mission was STS-41G in 1984. A physicist with a Ph.D., she joined the astronaut corps in 1978 as a part of the first class of astronauts recruited specifically for the Space Shuttle Program. Viewed as a leader in the NASA community, she served on the Rogers Commission after the Challenger disaster in 1986 as well as the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) in 2003. She also led the task force that produced a visionary strategic planning report in 1987 titled, “NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” but known popularly as the Ride Report.

After she retired from NASA in 1987, Dr. Ride taught first at Stanford and later at the University of California, San Diego. Until her death in 2012, she was president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that promoted science education.

Dr. Ride’s partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, donated the plaque to the Museum in 2013.

Credit Line

Gift of Tam O'Shaughnessy

Inventory Number

A20140192000

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

MEMORABILIA-People

Materials

Wood (possibly Walnut)

Copper Alloy

Plastic

Adhesive

Dimensions

Overall: 22.9 × 17.8 × 1.6cm (9 in. × 7 in. × 5/8 in.)

Country of Origin

United States of America

National Air and Space Museum

Record ID

nasm_A20140192000

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv90e5bdf48-d93b-4014-a5e1-9d196d8936d0