RIP: Sally Ride, USA’s First Female Astronaut

RIP: Sally Ride, USA’s First Female Astronaut

Doctor Sally Ride passed away peacefully today at the age of 61. What’s more, her obituary lists her as being survived by “her partner of 27 years”, Tam O’Shaughnessy, a long-time associate who as recently as 2009 was publically referred to just as a “good friend”.

Some people will say that a public figure’s sexual orientation should have no bearing and not be worth mentioning, and that point is valid, but as someone who still knows young people who feel isolated and unrepresented by society at large, I think choosing to be open, especially when one is such a trail-blazing figure as Dr. Ride, is of incredible importance.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 at 3:56 pm and is filed under People, Science Facts & Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.