Patch, NASA Insignia ("meatball"), Sally Ride

This NASA insignia patch, depicting the design nicknamed the "meatball" in 1975, was owned by Dr. Sally K. Ride. The design was created by NASA employee James Modarelli in 1959, two years after the organization was founded, as a simplification of the official agency seal design. The red, white, and blue design is symbolic: the patch's round shape resembling a planet and the stars in the center representing space. The red v-shaped chevron signifies aeronautics, and the circle around the name depicts orbital space flight. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin revived this design in 1992.

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 to the Museum in 2013.