Quotes By Sally Ride

I had both male and female heroes.

NASA has to approve whatever we wear, so there are clothes to choose from, like space shorts - we wear those a lot - and NASA T-shirts.

For quite some time, women at NASA only had scientific backgrounds.

When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.

I was always very interested in science, and I knew that for me, science was a better long-term career than tennis.

It takes a few years to prepare for a space mission.

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.

One thing I probably share with everyone else in the astronaut office is composure.

There are aspects of being the first woman in space that I'm not going to enjoy.

It's well known that many girls have a tendency to dumb down when they're in middle school.

For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences.

Then during the mission itself, I used the space shuttle's robot arm to release a satellite into orbit.

I did not come to NASA to make history.

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.

Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.

But even in elementary school and junior high, I was very interested in space and in the space program.

I haven't written my memoirs or let the television movie be made about my life.

I don't have any nicknames.

I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.

So I decided on science when I was in college.

I didn't really decide that I wanted to be an astronaut for sure until the end of college.

Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.

The pressure suit helps if something goes wrong during launch or re-entry - astronauts have a way to parachute off the shuttle. The suits protect you from loss of pressure in case of emergency.

I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help.

Some astronauts sleep in sort of beds - compartments that you can open up and crawl into and then close up, almost like a little bedroom.

Well, we spend an awful lot of our time working and doing experiments. It's very busy up on the shuttle.

You know, I go around the country a lot.

On both of my flights, everything went very well.

The women's movement had already paved the way, I think, for my coming.

It's easy to sleep floating around - it's very comfortable. But you have to be careful that you don't float into somebody or something!