Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego

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Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego

Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego helps educators build students’ STEM literacy and connect what students are learning to exciting STEM careers.

09/04/2026

On Sept. 4, 1984, the crew of NASA mission STS-41G donned civilian clothes to meet the press and pose for photos. The seven would blast off on Oct. 5 of that year aboard shuttle Challenger on what was Sally Ride’s second spaceflight and the first space mission with two female crew members. Shown are, front row from left, Marc Garneau, Paul Scully-Power and Commander Robert Crippen; second row, Jon McBride, David Leestma and Ride; back, Kathy Sullivan. https://buff.ly/H0iHVJA NASA photo

09/03/2026

We were saddened to hear of the death of feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem at the age of 92. Steinem is shown on Aug. 10, 1983, talking with tennis great Billie Jean King and Sally Ride during a Ms. Magazine reception honoring Ride after she became the first American woman in space. Steinem interviewed Ride about the sexist questions she was asked by the media, and the interview was later turned into an animated video, "Sally Ride on Dumb Questions," by Blank on Blank: https://tinyurl.com/y4w8ryd6

The Associated Press photo appears in "Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space" by Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's life partner.

09/02/2026

Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died along with six crewmates in the shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, was born in 1948. She was chosen from among 11,000 teachers who applied for the program. Learn more from Smithsonian Magazine about her selection and her experience preparing to go to space: https://buff.ly/kJX1JfS NASA photo

09/01/2026

Astronaut Jonny Kim is leaving NASA after nine years to return to active duty as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy. Even before he became an astronaut and spent eight months on the International Space Station, Kim had a truly amazing resume. The son of South Korean immigrants, he served as a Navy SEAL before getting his medical degree from Harvard, and he’s a designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. https://ift.tt/QD6lKhT NASA photo

08/31/2026

The launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday has focused new attention on the legacy of Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer and first female executive. She earned her doctorate in astronomy at the University of Chicago before joining the space agency in 1959 and establishing its astronomy program. Roman is remembered as the "Mother of Hubble" for her crucial role in launching the Hubble Space Telescope. She died in 2018 at the age of 93. https://buff.ly/V8H9k9G

08/28/2026

Lesson plans for students have always been designed by adults. But a new summer program created by San Diego County Office of Education and Sally Ride Science took a fresh approach – with promising results. The STEM Design Team Summer Academy brought together six educators and 17 high school students to design and improve STEM lessons. "We kind of blurred the lines between who's the teacher and who's the learner," said Chelsea Cochrane, science coordinator at SDCOE. "Teachers got to see that the students can teach them a thing or two as well." Read about the academy on the UC San Diego Extended Studies blog: https://buff.ly/RGh1Afp

08/27/2026

Happy birthday to Anna Kikina, Russia's only current female cosmonaut, who is celebrating the day on the International Space Station. Kikina, an engineer, made her first flight to the space station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2022. For her current mission, she arrived aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in July with fellow cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Anil Menon for an 8-monthn stay. https://buff.ly/iMb1JkC NASA photo

08/26/2026

Today we remember pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, born in 1918. She is shown receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2015 as baseball legend Willie Mays looks on. Johnson’s contributions to the early space program were celebrated in the film “Hidden Figures,” along with those of other trailblazing African American women at the space agency. She died in 2020 at the age of 101. https://buff.ly/GVTwyEX NASA photo/Bill Ingalls

08/25/2026

Astronaut Jessica Watkins, commander of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13, and her crewmates showed off the patch for their mission, set to launch to the International Space Station in mid-September. The Crew-13 patch design is inspired in part by the logo of Apollo 13, the 1970 mission that was cut short by an oxygen tank explosion. The crew safely returned to Earth six days later. Next to Watkins, from left, are pilot Luke Delaney of NASA, Joshua Kutryk of Canada and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Russia. https://buff.ly/2gFfzQ8 NASA photo/Morgan Gridley

08/24/2026

Happy birthday to Anna Fisher, one of NASA’s first six female astronauts, who was born on Aug. 24, 1949. Fisher (right) is shown with Sally Ride in May 1983 during a sequence test to prepare for STS-7, the mission that blasted off a month later to make Ride the first American woman in space. Fisher, a physician, gave birth to a daughter in July 1983. She flew aboard shuttle Discovery in November 1984 to become the first mother in space. https://buff.ly/zfn5pnP NASA photo

Address

San Diego, CA

Telephone

+18585340804

Website

https://sallyridescience.ucsd.edu/

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