posted 06-16-2025 02:45 PM               

Sally Ride's flight diaries among auction of first US woman in space estate

Items that belonged to America's first woman to fly into space are being sold to the public for the first time.

Los Angeles-based Nate D. Sanders Auctions has announced its sale of the Sally Ride Estate Collection, an offering of more than 50 lots of historical artifacts and related memorabilia closing for bids on June 26, 2025 — 42 years and two days after Ride landed from space.

posted 06-18-2025 04:09 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by stsmithva:
Could she have bought one as a space collector?

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posted 06-26-2025 07:48 PM               

• Apollo 11 flown Robbins medallion — $14,152
  
• STS-41G flown diaries — $7,755
  
• Training flight suit with STS-2 patch — $5,826
  
• Training flight suit — $5,826
  
• Astronaut acceptance mailgram — $4,037
  
• NASA astronaut ID badge — $3,932
  
• Passport — $3,894
  
• STS-7 flown Robbins medallions — $450 to $3,802
  
• STS-41G flown Robbins medallions — $2,144 to $2,359

posted 06-30-2025 02:29 PM               

Historic Sally Ride Estate Collection Sells for $145,666

The Sally Ride Estate Collection chronicling Sally Ride's groundbreaking journey from a Stanford-trained physicist to international icon sold Thursday evening for $145,666 at Nate D. Sanders Auction. The auction featured over 50 lots of historically significant items from America's pioneering first woman astronaut.

Dr. Sally Kristen Ride made history on June 18, 1983, when she launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger as America's first woman in space during mission STS-7. At age 32, she became the youngest American astronaut to reach orbit, operating the shuttle's robotic arm with unprecedented skill and helping deploy two communications satellites. Her second mission, STS-41-G in October 1984, marked another milestone as the first spaceflight with two women crew members. Together, these missions established Ride as a global symbol of women's achievement in science and exploration.

Sally's Time at NASA reveals unprecedented career documentation

Ride's original NASA acceptance letter from 1978, when she was selected as one of six women from 8,000 total applicants for NASA Astronaut Group 8 – the first class to include women astronauts sold for $5,046

Her official NASA astronaut badge (Lot 28) went for $4,915 and training coveralls (Lots 30-31) both sold for $7,28, providing tangible connections to her rigorous preparation for spaceflight. Most compelling is Lot 35, Ride's personal mission diary for STS-41-G, which sold for $9,694 and offered a unprecedented insight into her thoughts and experiences during her second spaceflight when she worked alongside fellow groundbreaker Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.

Highlights from the diaries include Ride's 20 pages of Earth observations, including her poetic description of aurora: "saw a brilliant green aurora...appears eerie to bright green...diffuse & 'wavy'...we could see the 'curtains' which defined the magnetic oval." She chronicles viewing lightning storms over Indonesia, oil fires in the Persian Gulf, and "exploding bombs & flares in IRAN/IRAQ war – blasts of light over the borders," providing a unique astronaut's perspective on world events below.

The diaries also capture lighter moments, including the crew's wake-up music selections (her request for "Valley Girl" was "nixed by training team"), pranks with ground control using answering machine messages, and the barely audible presidential phone call with Ronald Reagan from a train near Dayton, Ohio. These intimate details offer collectors an unparalleled window into America's space program through the eyes of its pioneering female astronaut.

Following her NASA career, Ride became a physics professor at UC San Diego and founded Sally Ride Science in 2001, creating acclaimed STEM programs that inspired countless students. Her educational legacy includes six children's science books co-authored with life partner Dr. Tam O'Shaughnessy, and programs like Sally Ride EarthKAM that continue engaging students with space exploration.

Robbins medals

Lots 1-20 feature gold Robbins medals from Ride's personal collection. Ride's personally owned medals from the historic Apollo 11 flight to the moon and the STS-1 Space Shuttle Columbia sold for $17,690 and $13,401.