Chapter 1 BLAST OFF Astronaut John Glenn's family watches his 1962 space launch on TV February 20 1962 was an exciting day for the United States That's when astronaut John Glenn climbed into a small space capsule in Florida and huge rockets blasted him into space He became the first American to orbit Earth Millions of Americans watched the launch on TV
In Los Angeles California Sally Ride was watching too Her teacher at Encino Elementary School had wheeled a black and white TV set into her classroom so the students could watch the launch Sally was in sixth grade She didn't know what her future would hold She didn't know that she too would become an astronaut and the first American woman to fly in space Ride stands in her flight suit before her first launch into space in 1983
Sally poses for a high school yearbook photo in 1968 STUDYING SCIENCE Sally was born on May 26 1951 Her parents Dale and Joyce Ride always encouraged Sally and her sister Karen to work hard and pursue their interests Sally became interested in science when she was in junior high school She subscribed to Scientific American magazine and her parents bought her a telescope From her front lawn Sally could look through the telescope for close up views of planets and constellations or groups of stars in the night sky
Sally attended a private high school in Los Angeles called Westlake School for Girls A science teacher there Elizabeth Mommaerts encouraged Sally's passion for science During her senior year Sally took an introductory physics class at the University of California Los Angeles UCLA But an English teacher at Westlake was less supportive She told her class that Sally had a first rate mind wasted in science Sally ignored the English teacher She wanted to study physics in college She was especially interested in astrophysics Astrophysics deals with the properties and behavior of objects in space such as stars planets and solar systems At the time Sally did not think about becoming an astronaut Rather she was fascinated by space and interested in knowing more about what existed beyond Earth Sally decided to study physics at Swarthmore College a small school in Pennsylvania Swarthmore College
