Celebrate Sally Ride, The First Woman To Travel To Space - http://clapway.com/2015/05/26/celebrate-sally-ride-first-woman-travel-space-123/

Sally Ride was a Los Angeles-born physicist and astronaut, and successfully joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983. At the age of 32, she is the youngest to have ever traveled to space, and today, May 26th, Google Doodle honored the late astronaut. Today is also her 64th birthday.

Sally Ride was just one of the several thousand people who replied to an ad she had found in the Stanford student newspaper, which was searching for eligible candidates for the space program, and Ride was fortunate enough to win the opportunity to join NASA in 1978. In the span of her space exploration career, Ride performed duties as not only the ground-based capsule communicator, called CapCom, for the 2nd and 3rd space shuttle flights (STS-2 and STS-3) she was also helpful in developing the space shuttle’s robot arm.

First Woman In Space

Before she ever left Earth’s atmosphere in her first space flight, Sally Ride received scrutinizing media attention because she was a woman. While in the middle of a press conference, Ride dealt with questions like how the journey may have an affect her reproductive organs and whether or not she cries under pressure. But Ride was ultimately never phased by this, and viewed herself as nothing more and nothing less than an astronaut. On June 18, 1983 was when she became a crew member on the Challenger space shuttle for STS-7, the first American woman to do so. This 5 person crew deployed 2 communications satellites and underwent experiments involving pharmaceuticals. In addition, Ride was the first woman to operate the robot arm in space as well as the first to use it to retrieve a satellite.

Her 2nd space flight, in 1984, had her in space for more than 343 hours.

Sally Ride’s Life After NASA

In 1987, she began working at Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control. 2 years later she became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the California Space Institute. She was the president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, became the author/co-author of 7 books, and endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. She passed away in 2012 due to pancreatic cancer.

Celebrate Sally Ride, The First Woman To Travel To Space

Crucial NASA Data Returns to Earth Aboard SpaceX Dragon - http://clapway.com/2015/05/21/crucial-nasa-data-returns-to-earth-aboard-spacex-dragon-123/

Today, at 12:42 PM EDT, SpaceX’s spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon, had successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The craft was carrying over two tons of NASA cargo from the International Space Station, including important research on how life in space affects bone health and the aging process. The 3,100 lbs of cargo made it down to Earth safely, and will be unloaded from the SpaceX Dragon and received by NASA as soon as it makes its 155-mile trip to Long Beach, California. From there, the SpaceX Dragon will be taken home to SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas-based test facility.

Important NASA Data Was Quite Varied in Nature

Some data was on the aging of roundworms, which can be used as a model for larger organisms. Scientists can observe certain physiological changes in the worms that are a result of space life, which may affect aging rates.

Other data came from the Osteocytes and Mechanomechano (Osteo-4) transduction investigation.

The Osteocyte investigation gathered data about what happens to osteocytes, the most common cells in bone, under microgravity. This information is important for two reasons. First, it helps us better understand what happens to humans during long periods in space. Bone density in astronauts tends to decrease at a much higher rate than in people living on Earth. Scientists hope that the findings can be used to better prepare astronauts for the effects of future long-term missions, such as NASA’s Mars journey. Second, the data may also be useful to treating patients on Earth who are rendered immobile or inactive as a result of illness or old age.

Another set of data, along with equipment, came from the SpinSat, or Special Purpose Inexpensive Satellite. The SpinSat is a spherical satellite less than two feet in diameter, with new thrusters that allow it to move and position itself. One proposed future use for the SpinSat data is to get high-resolution atmospheric data from the thermosphere, one of the highest levels in our atmosphere. Scientists hope that this data will help design future generations of satellites and telecom technology.

SpaceX has had numerous successes lately, and is currently the only company that makes a high-capacity vessel for supply trips to the International Space Station.

Crucial NASA Data Returns to Earth Aboard SpaceX Dragon