June 2025 Sally Ride Auction Ends Thursday, June 26th, 5pm Pacific
Set of two diaries personally owned and handwritten by Sally Ride, documenting in vivid detail the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-G mission in October 1984. From pre-flight tests to the 8-day mission itself to landing and post-flight debriefs, the entire journey of Ride's journey into space is documented here, so personal and revealing that it gives the reader a visceral understanding of what flying in space must feel like. Lot includes two diaries, the first focused on pre-flight notes and checklists, with check marks next to most entries, ostensibly as Ride performed them; this journal runs 22 pages and ends with a ''Launch Day'' list of items to bring with her.
The second, much more expansive diary spans 92 pages and includes intimate details of the mission such as anecdotes about the other astronauts, their food intake, sleeping arrangements, the call with President Reagan, vivid details of Earth as they circled it 133 times, and much more, even the astronaut's choice of ''wake-up music'' (Ride's request for ''Valley Girl'' was nixed). Diary is revealing, with Ride's personal thoughts not shared publicly, even noting a racist comment that one of the other astronauts made during the debriefing, writing that ''fortunately Charlie Bolden was out of the room''. The majority of this diary was possibly written during the mission itself, given the level of detail, although it's also possible it was written shortly after the astronauts' return to Earth.
Ride begins the journal with observations about the launch, noting that she experienced a ''jolt'' before seeing what looked like a ''shimmering/elongated 'icicle'''. She writes that fellow astronauts Dave Leestma appeared ''jazzed'' while KS (Kathryn Sullivan) was grinning and Jon McBride was ''red/sick''. Upon entry into Earth's low orbit, Ride records the intense visual scene: ''buried in darkness, EI [entry-interface] in dark, saw orange glow out forward windows (not quite as brilliant as STS-7), turned pale salmon; ink glow out side hatch; bright orange glow, pulsing 'fire' out overhead window (Dave got pictures)''.
Once in flight, Ride explains how the astronauts disposed of all manner of their trash, where they stowed various items as they unpacked, etc. She lists the food she thought was good - the shrimp cocktail, mac & cheese, cookies and vegetables, and also a shorter list of food she deemed ''not good'' including cereal, canned tuna and instant breakfast; noting that she didn't eat the foil meats. She writes that the astronauts ate their meals together: ''a little hard to find appropriate time, but made prep & cleanup easier''.
Describing the Presidential phone call with Ronald Reagan that happened during the flight, Ride writes that that Reagan called from a train near Dayton, Ohio and that the ''Comm was very bad...could barely make out '...trains --> Wright Brothers --> space prog.' One question for Crip, one for me, one for KS, one for Marc.'' She also shares a humorous story about the simulated pre-flight training call that the astronauts did with someone pretending to be President Reagan.
In a section titled ''Sleeping'', Ride shares that she slept in Jon McBride's seat sometimes, ''alternately strapped in, & floated above seat. (Strapped in felt best early in flt...floating felt best later in flight''. She describes the sleeping configuration, with some of the astronauts sleeping ''wall in bag'' and some sleeping in the airlock. She shares a ''strange sensation when you 1st close your eyes: feel like you're still moving (most often, for me, in pitch; occasionally in roll)''. Ride also notes elsewhere that the astronauts ''slept interconnected one night - a bad thing to do''. She also writes how her and Robert Crippen chewed on cotton balls (''SPIT'') to fall asleep, even revealing a covert mid-night journey by Crippen to retrieve the cotton balls from the locker while everyone else was sleeping.
In an expansive section titled ''Earth Obs'' spanning 20 pages, Ride goes into wonderful detail about viewing different parts of the Earth from space, along with distinct colors observed. She writes about seeing the aurora, ''saw a brilliant green aurora (in S.) & set up to photograph it on next pass...the moon rose, & we saw nothing (full moon). Aurora appears eerie to bright green...diffuse & 'wavy' although we saw no motion on any one pass...we could see the 'curtains' which defined the magnetic oval...we saw this several times during the flight - it didn't require cabin darkening to observe it - & could watch it for many minutes...'' Ride then draws a little diagram about what sunrise and sunset looks like from space, nothing that the '''height' of the colors (above the horizon) during sunrise/sunset at 180, appeared more flattened, distinct, & occupied 1-2 degrees solid angle...at 170, 'same color pattern' but seemed to extend twice as high, & was a little more diffuse. Upon close observation, could make out all the rainbow colors (in ROYGBIV order) though R&G were hard to pick out, & (O & B) dominated.''
Ride also describes seeing phenomena such as a ''lightning storm over Indonesia - huge, energetic storms'', ''oil fires in the Persian gulf - tens of blazes dotting area (could see slicks in daylight)'' and ''exploding bombs & flares in IRAN/IRAQ war - blasts of light over the borders''. Other areas Ride notes as seeing are the eastern seaboard of the United States (''from Florida to Maine''), Chicago (''looks like it's been sliced off by the lake''), California (''saw L.A. & Santa Barbara clearly''), Australia (''we could see all the way from Perth to Adelaide in lights'' and ''lots of fires at night in N.E. Australia''), Japan (''was densely populated''), Mt. Ararat in Turkey, Gibraltar (''spectacular - sun was perfect every a.m. for ocean glitter. Spain was always crystal clear...tried to find Madrid, but never could. Saw Rota, Cadiz, Lisbon''). She continues, ''France & Germany (& Eastern Europe) were always cloudy - saw English Channel...& had one beautiful pass over London''. With much more content observing cities and landmarks, including Scotland, the Alps, the boot of Italy and its cities, Greece, the Nile Delta, the Suez Canal, Red Sea, fires along the coast of Africa, Bangladesh, the Black Sea, etc. Ride also writes about seeing ''an incredible # of contrails...some 1000 mi. long over Canada...several times could spot airplane at head of contrail''. Ride also wonders about seeing a ''desolate area in USSR with roads demarking area...dissident?''.
Ride shares numerous anecdotes about her fellow astronauts, with a small sampling including the fact that Kathryn Sullivan had to strap in Paul Scully-Power because he ''messed up biomed, didn't understand LEH''. In the section titled ''Wake-up music'', Ride writes that ''Country Roads'' was played one morning for ''Big Jon [McBride]'' and that the ''Boomer Sooner'' football fight song was requested for ''Crip'' (Robert Crippen). She also notes that '''Valley Girl' for KS [Kathryn Sullivan] & me was nixed by training team & Capcoms''. Ride, of course, was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of California. Ride writes about jocular teasing between the astronauts and Capcom: after the wake-up songs were played, the astronauts pretended to reply with a ''recorded voice''. She writes that one day the message was ''Hi - This is the 41G crew, we're not in right now, but if you leave your name & #, we'll get back to you'''. Apparently John E. Blaha responded by accidentally giving out an unlisted Capcom phone number that resulted in them getting ''lots of calls''. More hijinks are reported here by Ride in what was the early days of phone answering machines, including one morning the astronauts responded to Capcom by playing ''Rocket Man'' by Elton John.
In a section about Canadian Marc Garneau (who humorously wore a t-shirt with ''One Giant Leaf'' under an image of the Maple Leaf, referring to Neil Armstrong's famous quote), Ride shares several anecdotes about his Canadian heritage, including the crew surprising him with ''Canadian Thanksgiving'', and how his hometown of Churchill, Canada was supposed to flicker its lights when they passed over; although they didn't see this, Garneau thanked them for doing it ''implying (though not saying) we had seen it''. Ride also shares a few recollections about Australian astronaut Paul Scully-Power, writing that he ''seemed a little muted most of the flight''. She also notes that ''PSP...asked Dave [Leestma] to change the urine filter in the WCS'' and that Scully-Power was agitated at one point with Commander Robert Crippen.
Under a section titled ''Personal Hyg[iene], likely written before launch, Ride notes that she asked fellow astronaut Kathryn Sullivan ''about Kotex'' and then writes ''no prob''; STS-41-G is notable as the first Space Shuttle mission to have two female astronauts aboard. She also writes a humorous entry: ''delete make-up kit, fly some Kotex in regular hygiene kit''. Not fully understanding the preferences of female astronauts, NASA managers famously thought that Ride and Sullivan would want a make-up kit aboard the mission, which Ride here clearly vetoes. More toiletry information is included in this section that would concern both female and male astronauts.
Lastly, Ride spends several pages writing about the mission landing and debriefing. For ''Post-Landing'' she writes, ''red carpet rolled out to van ('welcome home 41G')...only Marc was pale/wobbly.'' In the press conference after landing, Ride notes several questions directed at her: ''Rebecca Chase ABC - 'looks like woman are doing the work'; & LA Times - 'as a scientist, are you offended by doing a press conf during TDRS time that should be devoted to science data''. In the Debriefing section, Ride lists the comments and questions made by each crew member, where the inappropriate racial comment made by one is described. She also writes that Scully-Power said that the ''D/O prep...was too much'' but that ''Doc's, trainers, & Ty all said 'he never got it right'...messed up equipment & connections - KS had to strap him in for entry.'' Ride also writes an intriguing passage in this Debriefing section, referencing ''7 people'' (perhaps referring to the 7 crew members?) with six cryptic bullet points - one for each person likely - reading in part, '''law & order'''; ''science vs. PR''; and ''crew time req'd for baby-sitting''.
With much more content, including observations about almost every aspect of the mission, and dozen of pages regarding complex tasks that the astronauts had to perform, along with troubleshooting solutions when things went awry. In one entry Ride recounts a demonstration that Marc Garneau gives using peanut butter and jam ''spun off the top'' to simulate their satellite deploy. Also spanning several pages, Ride writes in intricate detail about deploying and repairing an antennae that was ''whipping around'', necessitating Ride's use of the robotic arm to fix.
Each diary measures 3.5'' x 5.75'' on lined pages, handwritten by Ride in both pencil and pen. The first diary has a sticker of the STS-41-G mission emblem on its cover. Both are in very good condition with legible handwriting. An exceptional set of diaries, providing a window into the Space Shuttle mission by the first U.S. woman to venture into space. With an LOA from CMG Worldwide who represents the Sally Ride estate.
Sally Ride's Personal Diaries for STS-41-G, Describing Every Aspect of the Mission from Pre-Flight to Debrief -- ''...strange sensation when you 1st close your eyes: feel like you're still moving...''
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