Earth Weather / Space Weather 

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941


Uploaded by shuttlemania on Jun 18, 2010

SALLY RIDE: AMERICA'S FIRST WOMAN IN SPACE -- JUNE 18, 1983 - JSC

Twenty-seven years ago, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on Jun 18, 1983. She accomplished this historic milestone when she flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger as a mission specialist for the six-day STS-7 mission.
Ride, a southern California native, was also a mission specialist for a second shuttle mission, STS 41-G in October of 1984.

Since leaving the astronaut corps in 1987, Ride, who has a Ph.D. in physics, has taught at various universities and authored several books. In 2001,
she founded Sally Ride Science, an innovative program dedicated to promote student interest in mathematics, science and technology.

She is a member of the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and has received numerous awards, including two NASA Space Flight Medals.
(Interview conducted April 21, 2008)