Northrop Grumman names ‘SS Sally Ride’ cargo craft for first US woman in space

October 4, 2022

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She set sail as a U.S. Navy analysis vessel, shipped out as postage stamp, entered circulation on the reverse of a coin and stood tall as a monument. Now, America’s first lady in space is about to return to Earth orbit because the namesake of a space station-bound cargo capsule (opens in new tab).

Northrop Grumman has christened its nineteenth (NG-18) Cygnus resupply spacecraft the “S.S. Sally Ride.”

“Right now we acknowledge and have a good time the contributions of a real pioneer of spaceflight by naming our next Cygnus spacecraft (opens in new tab) after Dr. Sally Trip,” mentioned Kathy Warden, chair, chief govt officer and president of Northrop Grumman, in a video posted to the corporate’s social media channels on Monday (Oct. 3). “She was a steadfast advocate for range and equality in science, inspiring numerous girls to pursue STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] careers, together with me.”

Images: Sally Ride, first American woman in space

One of many first six girls chosen in 1978 to turn into a NASA astronaut, Trip launched into space on June 18, 1983, as a member of the shuttle Challenger‘s STS-7 crew. She flew once more on Challenger a 12 months later, serving as an STS-41G mission specialist, bringing her total time in space to simply over two weeks.

Trip set data on the bottom, too. A nationally ranked youth tennis participant, Trip was the primary lady to function CapCom, or capsule communicator, in mission management. After leaving the astronaut corps, she continued to serve the U.S. space program, changing into the one member of each investigation boards that adopted NASA’s two shuttle tragedies. Trip additionally joined the 2009 fee that helped form the company’s present spaceflight packages.

In 2001, Trip and her life associate, Tam O’Shaughnessy, co-founded Sally Trip Science, an organization aimed toward motivating younger ladies to pursue careers in science and engineering. Trip died in 2012 on the age of 61.

“Her affect continues to be felt right now. She paved the way in which for future generations to push the boundaries of spaceflight and exploration,” mentioned Warden. “We’re honored to call our latest Cygnus spacecraft after this exceptional lady.”

Within the years since her demise, Trip has been honored with the naming of the united statesNavy’s R/V Sally Trip; has had her likeness seem on a U.S. postage stamp and a U.S. quarter greenback coin; and has been memorialized with a life-size bronze and gold statue (opens in new tab) exterior of the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Lengthy Island, New York. She has additionally been honored with a Barbie doll, a Little People figure (opens in new tab) and a LEGO minifigure, and she or he was the namesake for the location the place two NASA probes hit the moon in 2012.

NASA and Northrop Grumman mission patches for the “S.S. Sally Trip” NG-18 Cygnus cargo spacecraft. (Picture credit score: NASA/Northrop Grumman (Montage by collectSPACE.com))

The S.S. Sally Trip is focused to launch to the International Space Station no sooner than Nov. 6, using atop a Northrop Grumman Antares 230+ rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island in Virginia. The spacecraft will ship greater than 8,200 kilos (3,700 kilograms) of cargo for the station’s Expedition 68 crew. As soon as its mission has been accomplished, the S.S. Sally Trip will carry out a damaging reentry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

The S.S. Sally Trip is barely the third Cygnus to be named for a girl. Northrop Grumman has a practice of naming every of its spacecraft after somebody who has made nice contributions to human spaceflight. Previous namesakes have included former firm govt J.R. Thompson, U.S. Air Drive Manned Orbiting Laboratory candidate Robert Lawrence, NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (opens in new tab) and NASA astronauts David Low, Gordon Fullerton, Janice Voss, Deke Slayton, Rick Husband, Alan Poindexter, John Glenn, Gene Cernan, John Younger, Roger Chaffee, Alan Bean, Kalpana Chawla (opens in new tab) and Ellison Onizuka (opens in new tab).

The newest Cygnus, which was launched in February and deorbited in June, was named the S.S. Piers Sellers (opens in new tab) after a British-American local weather scientist who launched on three missions to the space station.