Sally Ride is on the move again.
The Postal Service will release its Sally Ride stamp Wednesday, May 23, honoring the pioneering astronaut and brilliant physicist who became the nation’s first woman in space.
After completing her doctorate in physics, Ride joined NASA’s 1978 class of astronaut candidates for the space shuttle program, which was new at the time.
She was the first woman to serve as a capsule communicator for Columbia’s second flight in 1981, then became a mission specialist the following year.
In 1983, Ride served as a member of the flight crew aboard the Challenger, becoming the first American woman to reach space. She worked closely with her four male crewmates during the next six days, demonstrating that women could be as adept as men in the final frontier.
Ride later joined the faculty at the University of California San Diego as a physics professor and founded an organization, Sally Ride Science, dedicated to encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Ride died in 2012, survived by Tam O’Shaughnessy, her longtime partner.
USPS will dedicate the Sally Ride stamp May 23 during a ceremony at the University of California San Diego. Speakers will include Kristin Seaver, the Postal Service’s chief information officer; tennis star Billie Jean King, Ride’s friend; Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space and director of the Johnson Space Center; and O’Shaughnessy.
The stamp, which shows a colorful portrait of Ride in a blue flight suit with a shuttle lifting off in the background, will be available at Post Offices and usps.com.