What image first comes to mind when anyone thinks of astronaut Sally Ride? Some conjure the picture of Ride floating in zero gravity in the space shuttle, with a smile on her face holding a headset on her left ear. Or, maybe it is Ride standing alongside the five other women astronauts of the NASA 1978 astronaut class. For many, their knowledge of Sally Ride begins and ends at her NASA career and the title of the first American woman in space. After she retired from NASA, Sally Ride utilized her groundbreaking status to launch a variety of business ventures that would inspire the next generation of astronauts and scientists. Two of these businesses were the website Space.com and the education organization Sally Ride Science. Archival material from the Sally K. Ride Papers, held in the National Air and Space Museum Archives, helps us tell the story of these two business ventures.
