5 ms·

Sally Ride, first American woman in space, has died at 61

199 points by splat 14y ago

rglovejoy 14y ago
Try: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/23/157250870/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space-is-dead http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/23/157250870/sal...
- temuze 14y ago
  And on hn: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283217 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283217
- skystorm 14y ago
  > [...] a long journey that started in 1977 when the Ph.D. candidate answered an ad seeking astronauts for NASA missions. Somehow that just blows my mind, become an astronaut simply by responding to an ad in a student newspaper. Oh, the early days of space travel... :)
melling 14y ago
Another one to pancreatic cancer... http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
- kabdib 14y ago
  I lost a friend to pancreatic cancer earlier this year. One of the best programmers I ever met. He was diagnosed in late December and died in mid-March. This stuff sucks.
swang720 14y ago
A tragedy, and I wonder if being in space had anything to do with the development of her cancer. Astronauts must be bombarded by levels of radiation that people on Earth are not exposed to on a daily basis.
- codgercoder 14y ago
  I suppose NASA has been keeping stats; I wonder what they look like.
  - excuse-me 14y ago
    Statistically unconvincing ?
- dantheman 14y ago
  Here's a good PDF about space radiation: htttp://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiation.pdf
  - splat 14y ago
    Fixed link: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiation.pdf http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiat...
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      Sounds like they get blasted pretty hard, with the equivalent of several hundred chest X-rays over a 6-month tour.
      - rdl 14y ago
        A shuttle mission is at most 3-4 mSv/day, and depends on orbit. ISS is about 80 per 180 day mission. A whole-body CT is 10-12 mSv. Non-trivial, but not huge.
- Craiggybear 14y ago
  I have often thought that statistically most astronauts are quite long-lived (barring launch pad accidents). That, and their careers are usually quite short. Unlike airline pilots. They are exposed to quite high radiation flux for a good number of years over their entire career and are normally monitored closely for radiation induced disease within the normal routine medical checks.
dredmorbius 14y ago
Ride on, Sally Ride. As usual, an apropos xkcd reference, though this was a blog post, and concerned the surviving Apollo astronauts: http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/ http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/
- ck2 14y ago
  61 is far too young. Thank you for the inspiration Sally Ride.
- jmspring 14y ago
  Your comment "Ride on, Sally Ride", when I read of her death, I actually ended up with Mustang Sally in my head. Thanks for the XKCD link.
RockyMcNuts 14y ago
First lesbian in space, apparently. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/sally-ride-first-american-woman-female-partner-_n_1696537.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/sally-ride-first-am... Unfortunate she felt she had to keep it to herself her whole life. At the time she was applying, it might have disqualified her, security clearances weren't given since it was felt gays were exposed to blackmail. Plus Reagan era officials might not have viewed it as great PR. [edit] Also a shame her partner of 27 years doesn't get the privileges of a spouse.
- samstave 14y ago
  Its so fucking hilarious and sad that "gays were exposed to blackmail" thus not given clearance when the highest positions in many intelligence agencies are held by gays. Hoover, (hitlers SS lead - failing on name), and many others... not to mention the latest cabal in the US agencies who i will not name at this time. This world is so fucking broken.
  - xanadohnt 14y ago
    Turing too.
  - keefe 14y ago
    maybe the highest positions in intelligence agencies should be held by good liars, not social activists...
  - Mithrandir 14y ago
    >(hitlers SS lead - failing on name) Did you mean Ernst Röhm? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_R%C3%B6hm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_R%C3%B6hm) He wasn't SS, he was part of Sturmabteilung.
- Simucal 14y ago
  Would they only deny you a security clearance if your sexual orientation was a secret? It seems like it would be hard to blackmail someone who was publicly gay.
runjake 14y ago
Blue skies, Miss Ride.

199 points by splat 14y ago

Try: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/23/157250870/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space-is-dead http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/23/157250870/sal...

temuze 14y ago
And on hn: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283217 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283217
skystorm 14y ago
> [...] a long journey that started in 1977 when the Ph.D. candidate answered an ad seeking astronauts for NASA missions. Somehow that just blows my mind, become an astronaut simply by responding to an ad in a student newspaper. Oh, the early days of space travel... :)

melling 14y ago

Another one to pancreatic cancer... http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

kabdib 14y ago
I lost a friend to pancreatic cancer earlier this year. One of the best programmers I ever met. He was diagnosed in late December and died in mid-March. This stuff sucks.

swang720 14y ago

A tragedy, and I wonder if being in space had anything to do with the development of her cancer. Astronauts must be bombarded by levels of radiation that people on Earth are not exposed to on a daily basis.

codgercoder 14y ago
I suppose NASA has been keeping stats; I wonder what they look like.
- excuse-me 14y ago
  Statistically unconvincing ?
dantheman 14y ago
Here's a good PDF about space radiation: htttp://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiation.pdf
- splat 14y ago
  Fixed link: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiation.pdf http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/radiat...
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    Sounds like they get blasted pretty hard, with the equivalent of several hundred chest X-rays over a 6-month tour.
    - rdl 14y ago
      A shuttle mission is at most 3-4 mSv/day, and depends on orbit. ISS is about 80 per 180 day mission. A whole-body CT is 10-12 mSv. Non-trivial, but not huge.
Craiggybear 14y ago
I have often thought that statistically most astronauts are quite long-lived (barring launch pad accidents). That, and their careers are usually quite short. Unlike airline pilots. They are exposed to quite high radiation flux for a good number of years over their entire career and are normally monitored closely for radiation induced disease within the normal routine medical checks.

dredmorbius 14y ago

Ride on, Sally Ride. As usual, an apropos xkcd reference, though this was a blog post, and concerned the surviving Apollo astronauts: http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/ http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/

ck2 14y ago
61 is far too young. Thank you for the inspiration Sally Ride.
jmspring 14y ago
Your comment "Ride on, Sally Ride", when I read of her death, I actually ended up with Mustang Sally in my head. Thanks for the XKCD link.

RockyMcNuts 14y ago

First lesbian in space, apparently. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/sally-ride-first-american-woman-female-partner-_n_1696537.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/sally-ride-first-am... Unfortunate she felt she had to keep it to herself her whole life. At the time she was applying, it might have disqualified her, security clearances weren't given since it was felt gays were exposed to blackmail. Plus Reagan era officials might not have viewed it as great PR. [edit] Also a shame her partner of 27 years doesn't get the privileges of a spouse.

samstave 14y ago
Its so fucking hilarious and sad that "gays were exposed to blackmail" thus not given clearance when the highest positions in many intelligence agencies are held by gays. Hoover, (hitlers SS lead - failing on name), and many others... not to mention the latest cabal in the US agencies who i will not name at this time. This world is so fucking broken.
- xanadohnt 14y ago
  Turing too.
- keefe 14y ago
  maybe the highest positions in intelligence agencies should be held by good liars, not social activists...
- Mithrandir 14y ago
  >(hitlers SS lead - failing on name) Did you mean Ernst Röhm? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_R%C3%B6hm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_R%C3%B6hm) He wasn't SS, he was part of Sturmabteilung.
Simucal 14y ago
Would they only deny you a security clearance if your sexual orientation was a secret? It seems like it would be hard to blackmail someone who was publicly gay.

runjake 14y ago

Blue skies, Miss Ride.