Montage, Spacelab D-1 patch (flown) and photos, Sally Ride

This patch and photomontage were presented to Dr. Sally K. Ride by the crew of STS-61A in recognition of her "outstanding" job as Capcom during their mission. As Capcom, Ride was responsible for communicating messages from Mission Control to the crew during the space shuttle's voyage. STS-61A was a scientific Spacelab mission funded and directed by West Germany and was also known as D-1 (for Deutschland-1). The patch presented to Ride was flown in space, and the photomontage is signed by all five American astronauts.

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard STS-7 in 1983. Her second and last space mission was STS-41G in 1984. A physicist with a Ph.D., she joined the astronaut corps in 1978 as a part of the first class of astronauts recruited specifically for the Space Shuttle Program. Viewed as a leader in the NASA community, she served on the Rogers Commission after the Challenger disaster in 1986 as well as the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) in 2003. She also led the task force that produced a visionary strategic planning report in 1987 titled, “NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” but known popularly as the Ride Report.

After she retired from NASA in 1987, Dr. Ride taught first at Stanford and later at the University of California, San Diego. Until her death in 2012, she was president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that promoted science education.

Dr. Ride’s partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, donated the patch and photomontage to the Museum in 2013.