Sally

Sally
Documentary
Director: Cristina Costantini
Cinematography: Michael Latham
Composer: Jeff Morrow
Ark Media/National Geographic Documentary Films
Rating: not rated but could be PG-13 for themed material
Running Length: 103 Minutes

Having a discussion about women aviators, the first name mentioned would be Amelia Earhart. In the 1920’s and beyond, she worked in a man’s world to achieve greatness. There was always a man ahead of her in “The First Man to….” Wanting to achieve her own greatness, Amelia set out to circle the globe and did not make it. Her greatness is now “what ever happened to Amelia?” Next on the achievement list is Sally Ride, who became the first woman astronaut fighting for her place all the way. Sally did achieve her ride and came back safely and the film “Sally” is about what happened in front of and behind the cameras. Sally actually lived in two different worlds.

In this documentary, partly narrated by Tam O’Shaughnessy, the life of Sally Ride is open to the public. You will see what happens when men in NASA did not want women there. For example, in packing gear for the astronauts, the joke was about where to place the women’s sanitary wear. At NASA, there were 4000 employees and only four of them were women.

Sally did keep to herself and worked well with the press when needed. She had wit in her talk and could come back with a comment to match whatever was tossed at her. The Soviets however, were the first to launch a woman into space orbit. Women’s hearts did better in space than men. When the Challenger exploded and Christa McAuliffee died, Sally began her own search and found that NASA had known about the inaccurate rocket rings and done nothing about it. At this, she resigned from NASA.

This is a build-up to the day Sally Ride actually was able to get into the appropriate space gear and ride into space with crew and her title of “first woman.” Imagine, sitting on tons of liquid rocket fuel waiting for it to ignite and send you skyward. Michael Latham’s photography is astounding and accompanied by the music score by Jeff Morrow, the audience can rise up with Sally.

Outside the space world, Sally Ride had friends among tennis players such as Billie Jean King. However, to appear “normal,” Sally married Steve Hawley who was also in the space program, though in another department. They remained in the marriage for several years, as a cover. Sally, you see, was gay and had a long, private friendship with Tam O’Shaughnessy, who narrates part of this film. They had a domestic partnership.

In later years, Sally Ride began a Science Program to recruit teachers into being science teachers. Sally Ride passed away in 2012 from pancreatic cancer. Her legacy lives on in there is nothing a woman can’t do, especially in a space program.

Four Tocks

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