I. Introduction
A. Gender has always been a struggle Sally Ride was the first female astronaut to go in space.
B. Sally proved to everyone that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible. Encouraged girls to pursue their careers in science.
C. On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride blasted off into space on the Challenger.
D. Thesis statement
II. Things leading up to event
A. Russia beat the US by 20 years In 1963, the Soviet Union set parachutist Valentina Tereshkova in orbit.
B. The U.S. passed on sending 13 women into space after they had successfully and secretly passed test after test at the Lovelace Clinic in New Mexico in 1962. (Carver)
C. In 1978, the first women were admitted into the astronaut program 6 women were accepted Before takIng off in Challenger, in 1982, Sally started as a capsule communicator (first women to have this privilege)
III. The event itself Challenger was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 18,
1983.
The astronauts aboard were in orbit for 6 days.
Sally’s job was to operate RMS (Robot Manipulator System) (Zimmerman)
RMS - mechanical arm that launches satellites or collect them from orbit.
In October 1984, Challenger went on it’s 2nd flight.
The trip was 8 days and had 4 fellow astronauts, 1 being another woman and 2 scientists.
June 1985: Sally was scheduled for another flight, but due to the explosion of Challenger in Jan 1986, it was canceled.
The explosion killed all members on board. (Zimmerman)
IV. After the event After Sally became the first American woman to go into space, she was an inspiration to kids across the nation. She pursued her longtime passion for motivating young girls and boys to stick with their interests in science and to follow their career paths in science, technology, engineering and math. "It's amazing that people can make a career out of asking questions, everyone wants to be part of the