Sally celebrates complicated legacy of first US woman in space

Sally Ride's life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, tells the full story of this iconic astronaut for the first time.

Jun 17, 2025 - 23:20

Sally celebrates complicated legacy of first US woman in space

"Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret."

On June 18, 1983, NASA astronaut Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. National Geographic is marking the occasion with a new documentary on the astronaut's life: Sally. In addition to revisiting her storied career, the film provides an unprecedented look at the famously private Ride's personal life—notably her nearly 30-year relationship with another woman.

Director Cristina Costantini's prior work includes the 2018 Emmy-nominated National Geographic documentary Science Fair, chronicling nine teenagers' paths to competing in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. So perhaps it's not surprising that Costantini is a longtime fan of Ride since childhood. "It was just, if a girl can go to space and do all these things that women aren't supposed to do, maybe I can do big things, too," she told Ars. "I think a lot of women have the exact same reaction. If she can do it, we can do it. As I got older and I learned more about Sally, I realized, wow, she really had a very fine line to walk and she did it so masterfully."

Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012, which is when Costantini and much of the rest of the world discovered that the astronaut's business partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, was also Ride's romantic partner and had been for 27 years. "I thought, oh my God, if NASA was barely ready for women, what was this like?" said Costantini. "What was beneath the story that we had been fed our entire lives of who Sally really was? I wanted to make a film that celebrated the Sally we all knew and also celebrated the Sally we didn't know and complicate her legacy and make her a real person."

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