Sally Ride
Astronaut
1951-05-26
Quotes by Sally Ride
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The space shuttle is a better and safer rocket than it was before the Challenger accident.
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I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle.
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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.
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No, I think most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk, and are prepared for accidents.
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My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.
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The view of Earth is spectacular.
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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.
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The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.
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For whatever reason, I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.
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Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.
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On a standard space shuttle crew, two of the astronauts have a test pilot background - the commander and the pilot.
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Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.
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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.
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Studying whether there's life on Mars or studying how the universe began, there's something magical about pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. That's something that is almost part of being human, and I'm certain that will continue.
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When the space shuttle's engines cut off, and you're finally in space, in orbit, weightless... I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. Just a spectacular view, and a chance to see our planet as a planet.
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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!
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