Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Not-Quite-Science Forum RIP Sally Ride

Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut has died.

Here is the story on Phys.org.

She died today (July 23, 2012) of pancreatic cancer. She was a pioneer in showing what women are capable of.

Bill Gill

[quote=Bill]Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut has died. ... quote] Bill, I think I appreciate the good sentiment behind the acronym "RIP".

However, sure I like the peace-of-mind (of soul, spirit, pneuma) part, but whenever I--born in 1930 and well on the way in this life--see or hear it expressed as rest, it is not REST that I want. What I want is:

Accepting that there are no guarantees this side of death, I want to experience death, not as the beginning of an eternal rest, but as the point where, all who freely make the choice, can take on new energies enabling us to transcend the limitations of this life and continue, ad infinitum, the process we call evolution--role out and develop gradually.

Sally Ride was a brave and courageous woman. She was an inspiration to all three of my daughters, but especially the middle one who did a master's degree in chemistry (with a maths second major). This was still unusual in the 80s for a girl. This daughter sent me a text today saying how sad she was to hear this news.

Good bye Sally!

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/ride.html

images

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/galleries/ride.html