Today is American Astronaut Sally Ride’s 64th Birthday and the Search Engine Giant Google has put up a doodle on its Homepage to celebrate it. The Doodle shows Sally making an inspirational speech on the stage which motivates the children to take up astronomy as a profession. The animated doodle shows children making a fly into the space, true to Sally’s wisdom and her dream.
The Animated Google Doodle featuring Sally Ride
Sally Ride is widely remembered as the first American woman to travel in space and she still holds the record of being the youngest American astronaut to travel to space. She is also the first known LGBT Astronaut.
The Doodle was created by Google in association with Tam O’Shaughnessy, who was the life partner of astronaut Sally Ride. Tam also serves as the CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company she co-founded with Sally Ride.
In her message Tam says, “Sally died almost three years ago on July 23, 2012, from pancreatic cancer. But I know she would be honored by today’s Google Doodle. With whimsy, it expresses Sally’s sense of fun and adventure, and her ability to inspire young people. And who knows—maybe her Doodle will motivate some girl or boy somewhere in the world to become a scientist and adventurer just like Sally”.
Apart from being a regular astronaut, Sally was also a physicist, a science writer, and an inspirational advocate for keeping kids excited about science as they go through school.
After retiring from NASA, Sally became a physics professor and wrote several award-winning science books for children. She cared a lot about children and used her stature to inspire students to take careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Her company Sally Ride Science helped students with the creation of innovative classroom programs, classroom materials.