California native Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983. The achievement made her a national — but reluctant — hero. Ride was private, and when she died of pancreatic cancer at age 61 in 2012, her obituary publicly revealed that she was gay. It stated, “Dr. Ride is survived by her partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy.” The new documentary Sally focuses on her life, career, and relationship with O’Shaughnessy.
Though Ride didn’t tell people she was gay, they still knew, O’Shaughnessy shares with KCRW: “The way she behaved and led her life, she was actually very open. We went to each other's events. We were both professors. … We did many things together all over the country, and especially California. So in a way, she wasn't really hiding anything. She just wasn't open about it verbally.”
Cristina Costantini, who directed the documentary, says she was in love with Ride’s story since childhood: “It was a simple equation of: If Sally is a girl and she can go to space … I'm a girl, I can maybe do big things too.’ … Then as I got older, and I learned that she had this female life partner, I thought about, ‘NASA was barely ready for women. If she was also queer, would that have stopped her from being the first woman in space?’ And many people who have lived through this period said, ‘Yes, of course, she wouldn't have gotten that honor.’ And so, I wanted to make a film that was really a celebration of Sally as she really was. And I also wanted to celebrate Tam.”
Portrait of Tam O'Shaughnessy. Credit: National Geographic/Michael Latham.
However, from 1982 to 1987, Ride was married to a man — fellow astronaut Steve Hawley. In the film, he says, “She was always doing her own thing, so the fact that she was gone a lot wasn't unusual. I didn't feel like we were life partners.”
Costantini says Hawley describes them more as roommates, though a lot of people were confused by that relationship and quick marriage.
Ride was among the first six women selected as astronauts — during a time of remarkable sexism. Mike Mullane, who joined NASA at the same time Ride did, says in the film, “I remember telling a joke, and it had some obscene language in it. … I could just see in her eyes this look of, ‘You’re the most disgusting person I’ve ever met’ (laughs). And I didn’t talk to her much after that. I had never worked professionally with women. I was very suspect of them being able to perform in such a dangerous world of high-performance flight. I just couldn’t see what they were going to be bringing to the table.”
Ride recognized that NASA’s male astronauts, engineers, and leaders weren’t thrilled about women “suddenly invading their territory,” O’Shaughnessy says, but she was committed to the space shuttle program and adjusted to the environment.
Among the six women, how did Ride become the first one in space? Many people believed the decision came down to Ride and Judy Resnik as the two leading candidates, Costantini explains. “But no one knew if it was being personable, was it being an excellent scientist, an excellent robotic arm operator? There were a lot of different factors that probably factored into it. Some people say it was because Sally didn't like the spotlight. … Sally was not after the public recognition, and that's exactly why she made a great first woman astronaut.”
Tragically, Judy Resnik died when the Challenger exploded in 1986. At the time, Ride was visiting O’Shaughnessy in Atlanta. “She was on an airplane when the pilot made the announcement that the Challenger had exploded,” O’Shaughnessy recalls. “And Sally asked if she could go up and be in the pilots’ area, so that she could listen to the news and get reports. But she was just absolutely white, grayish white in the face, and just absolutely heartbroken.”
She adds, “She had to have known that it could have been any of them, and it could have been her, absolutely.”
After that, Ride got involved with the investigation and discovered faulty manufacturing.
“I hadn't realized what a critical role Sally played in the uncovering of the truth of what happened with the O-rings,” Costantini says. “But she masterfully delivered some data from inside NASA to the committee, that the scientists had understood that it would be dangerous to launch at those temperatures.”
She adds, “I think that was heartbreaking for Sally to know that these people that she had trusted so much had actually made this very dangerous decision. … So I think that was the beginning of the end for Sally and her time at NASA. It also was going to take years and years and years to get the shuttle back up and running again. And Sally loved being in space, and so I think she thought, ‘If I'm not going to be in space for a long time, I might as well go do this other thing I love, which is teach.’”
Tam O'Shaughnessy and Sally Ride in Sydney, Australia in 2004. Photo courtesy of Tam O'Shaughnessy.
O’Shaughnessy notes that Ride’s celebrity didn’t fade, and she even advised presidents on improving science education nationwide. Plus, the women astronauts who came after Ride credited her performance, behavior, integrity, and even humor in awkward situations.
“I think her sense of humor really allows her to navigate this space really incredibly well, because it distracts everybody from the stupidity, and points out the stupidity of what's being asked of her,” Costantini says.