After the Challenger accident, NASA put in a lot of time to improve the safety of the space shuttle to fix the things that had gone wrong.
Sally Ride

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.
Sally Ride

Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.
Sally Ride

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

But when I wasn't working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.
Sally Ride

Different astronauts sleep in different ways.
Sally Ride

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.
Sally Ride

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

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

I do a lot of running and hiking, and I also collect stamps - space stamps and Olympics stamps.
Sally Ride

I don't have any nicknames.
Sally Ride

I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.
Sally Ride

I had both male and female heroes.
Sally Ride

I liked math - that was my favorite subject - and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science.
Sally Ride

I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle.
Sally Ride

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

It takes a couple of years just to get the background and knowledge that you need before you can go into detailed training for your mission.
Sally Ride

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

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!
Sally Ride

My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.
Sally Ride