posted 10-06-2015 08:03 AM               

Astronaut Sally Ride's personal items and papers acquired by Smithsonian

In life, Sally Ride privately organized her personal items, NASA artifacts, awards and papers, which now will represent her career and legacy as America's first woman in space as part of the Smithsonian's collection.

The late astronaut and science educator, who died in 2012 of pancreatic cancer, set aside the objects that seemed to mean the most to her personally.

"In a way, Sally curated her own life, in that she put her astronaut gear and things that were most sentimental to her into a special trunk," said Valerie Neal, a curator and the chair of the space history division at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "We sort of took our cue from her as to what was important to have in the museum's collection."

posted 03-23-2020 04:15 PM               

Smithsonian seeks public's help with Sally Ride's astronaut training notes

Before she became the first American woman to fly into space, Sally Ride needed to learn how to be an astronaut. Now, 30 years later, the public can help expand access to Ride's training experience by volunteering to transcribe her extensive handwritten notes.

The National Air and Space Museum has begun the process of converting the 23 cubic feet of material it obtained from Ride's estate in 2015 to be available for research and study. Archivists have scanned and indexed the entire collection, but more can be done to make the papers fully searchable.