Patch, STS-41D, Discovery, Sally Ride

This STS 41-D patch was owned by Dr. Sally K. Ride. STS 41-D was the first flight of the Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery. The new spacecraft's name evoked the exploration ships commanded by Captain James Cook and Henry Hudson respectively, as represented by the sailing ship in the patch's design (on the far left). STS 41-D was the first space flight for Dr. Steven A. Hawley, then Ride's husband, and for Judith Resnik, the second American woman in space. Ride said prior to the launch in 1984, "I'll be glad when there are two of us, so she can take some of the publicity."Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard STS-7 in 1983. Her second and last space mission was STS-41G in 1984. A physicist with a Ph.D., she joined the astronaut corps in 1978 as a part of the first class of astronauts recruited specifically for the Space Shuttle Program. Viewed as a leader in the NASA community, she served on the Rogers Commission after the Challenger disaster in 1986 as well as the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) in 2003. She also led the task force that produced a visionary strategic planning report in 1987 titled, “NASA Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” but known popularly as the Ride Report.After she retired from NASA in 1987, Dr. Ride taught first at Stanford and later at the University of California, San Diego. Until her death in 2012, she was president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that promoted science education.Dr. Ride’s partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, donated the patch to the Museum in 2013.