"Sally Ride - Living Legends
Awarded: April 2000(b. May 26, 1951)
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. She was a mission specialist on the Challenger, the seventh space shuttle flight. She embarked on this career in 1977 and was one of the six women selected for a group of 35 new astronauts in 1978. Ride flew again in 1984 and in 1986 was part of the presidential commission investigating the Challenger explosion. She left NASA in 1987 to accept a fellowship at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control.
Related Library Resources
- View photos of the Kennedy Space Center in the online exhibition "Built in America: Historic Building and Engineering, 1933-Present."
- America's Story from America's Library introduces NASA.
- View "The Dream of Flight: A Library of Congress Special Presentation Commemorating the Centennial of Flight.""*
"The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.
About Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week." Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as "Women’s History Week." In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month." Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”
From the Law Library of Congress' guide to the legislative history of Women's History Month.
Executive and Legislative Documents
The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Women’s History Month."*
*Click Here for Full Text to the Library of Congress Website.
