Good bye, Sally

I read yesterday of the death of Sally Ride. With the news being full of the Penn State scandal and the Colorado shootings, her death didn't make huge headlines, but I’m guessing that wouldn’t have bothered her too much.

In case you don’t remember, Sally Ride was America’s first female astronaut. She flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. I remember thinking “what took them so long?” I understood the all-boys club of Mercury and Gemini, and I can even forgive them for Apollo. Remember, this was the time when boys played sports, and girls were cheerleaders. So in that world, pilots were men, and not women. And these space programs required pilots.

But by the time the Space Shuttle first flew in 1981, women’s roles had changed. While there were no female military pilots at that time, the shuttle was staffed with all kinds of people, not just pilots. Scientists and engineers were on board these as well. And women had shown that they too, could be scientists and engineers.

So it may have taken a while, but finally in 1983, Sally Ride actually became that first American woman in space. Never mind that the Russians had put a woman in space a full twenty years earlier, we finally got around to it. And while I’m not claiming to have extensively followed her career, she always seemed to handle herself with class and grace. Which is why she probably wouldn’t mind about the lack of huge headlines.

And then of course, there was this item in her obituary: “In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister,…” Yes, her partner. As in life partner. And she didn’t tell the world until she had died. She actually had never hidden her sexual orientation; she just hadn’t made a big deal about it by going public. All her friends and associates knew, but it was just another part of her. She was intelligent, had dark curly hair, and was gay.

While I’m sure some will criticize her for this, I would think even the most homophobic person would have to give some grudging respect to the way she lived out her life. She was what she was, and while many probably wished she had come out and made it a cause, she lived a public life as privately as she could.

But now Sally Ride, at the age of 62, has passed, succumbed to pancreatic cancer. You can think what you want, or course. But I will remember her not only as an astronaut, but also as a role model, and an inspiration.

If upon my own death, I am viewed as such, then I guess I really didn’t do too bad.