This 40-Phrase Letter to NASA Began Sally Journey’s Journey as The First Lady in Area

Sally Journey’s journey to develop into the primary American girl in house, and the youngest individual ever despatched into orbit, started with a handwritten letter.

She wrote to NASA in 1977 after seeing an article in The Stanford Day by day as she was ending up her PhD in astrophysics on the college.

The article mentioned that NASA contacted Stanford to assist it “recruit ladies” because it regarded to rent feminine astronauts to participate in its house shuttle program.

Journey wrote a brief, handwritten letter in response, asking for an software kind. It was simply 40 phrases lengthy.

She wrote:

“To whom it could concern,

I’m a PhD candidate in astrophysics at Stanford College, and am within the house shuttle program. Please ship me the varieties essential to use as a ‘mission specialist’ candidate.”

Thanks,

Sally Journey.”

The letter even had a small typo crossed out.

This can be a picture of the letter, shared with Enterprise Insider by Journey’s life associate, Tam O’Shaughnessy.

(Tam O’Shaughnessy)

The letter set the wheels in movement for Journey to be accepted as certainly one of NASA’s first six feminine astronauts, and later the primary American girl in house.

O’Shaughnessy informed Enterprise Insider that Journey had by no means thought of being an astronaut earlier than she noticed the article.

“She was consuming breakfast within the cafeteria at Stanford, and she or he had a kind of ‘aha!’ moments. It was like: ‘Oh my God, I wish to try this. I wish to attempt to do this’. So she despatched in a letter to NASA.”

Journey first went to house on 18 June 1983 (36 years in the past) as a mission specialist on the second mission for the Area Shuttle Challenger, and she or he went once more 1984. She was attributable to return once more however these plans have been stopped when the Challenger was destroyed in an accident in 1986.

All seven crew members on a shuttle mission have been killed when the Challenger broke up simply over a minute into its flight on January 28, 1986.

Journey mentioned in a 2002 interview shared by NASA that the choice course of was “entertaining” at first.

“I keep in mind that comparatively quickly-and I do not know whether or not that was per week or a month-I acquired a easy one- or two-page software that was not way more than: ‘Is there actually any person on the different finish of this software? Do you actually wish to apply?'”

The method then develop into extra severe, and she or he was ultimately accepted as a part of NASA’s astronaut program.

She turned an professional in NASA’s robotic arm system, and was appointed into the fee investigating the Challenger catastrophe.

(NASA)

In 2013, then-US President Barack Obama described Journey, who died in 2012, as “greater than an astronaut – she was an American treasure.” Obama made the feedback as he posthumously awarded her the presidential medal of freedom

Journey devoted her life after her journeys to house till her loss of life in 2012 to bettering science training, founding the nonprofit Sally Journey Science with O’Shaughnessy to work with college kids, write books, and foyer for higher science training.

She needed to encourage a higher ardour for science, notably in women.

“I believe that many individuals nonetheless solely consider her as an astronaut,” O’Shaughnessy mentioned.

“However they do not respect how a lot she did behind the scenes to have an effect on house coverage, science training coverage.”

This text was initially printed by Enterprise Insider.

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