Directed by Cristina Constantini, Sally is the story of the first American woman to break the stratospheric ceiling and fly into space. It was a huge achievement not only for Sally Ride but for each and every woman who was not given equal status, treated like a second-class citizen in her own country, and considered weak and incompetent as compared to her male counterparts. The documentary focuses on the challenges Sally faced on her journey and the cost she paid in order to chase her dreams, and it also delves deep into the kind of relationship she shared with the love of her life, Tam O’Shaughnessy.
What challenges did Sally face at NASA?
It made national headlines when Sally Ride made it to the NASA astronaut group 8, which consisted of 35 members, 6 of whom were women. There was a sense of excitement in the people, as they found it quite amusing that women would be working alongside men. Some weren’t sure if the women were up for the challenge, and some went to the extent of commenting upon how they were not biologically fit to be astronauts. When the conversation should have been about what women like Sally brought to the plate and how they could contribute in the upcoming missions, people were more concerned about what they would wear in the workplace and if their male counterparts would find it hard to concentrate due to all the distraction. But Sally and her colleagues didn’t pay attention to all the chatter, and they tried focusing on their purpose. After a year of training, Sally served as the capsule communicator, aka CapCom, and she helped in the development of the space shuttle’s robotic arm. Sally was an extremely competitive person, and she had this unspoken rivalry with her colleague, Judith Resnik. I believe both of them wanted to be the first American woman to go into space. They were both equally skilled, and they were ready to put in the hard work to make it into the good books of their superiors. But as fate would have it, Sally Ride was selected to be a part of the STS-7 mission, and she became the first American woman to fly in the space shuttle named Challenger in the year 1983. Sally had always been a very private person, and though she was fine discussing her professional life, she became very uncomfortable when people asked her questions about her personal life. The women were already dealing with workplace discrimination, and the media didn’t make their lives easier. Every day, misogynistic comments were hurled their way as if it were the most casual thing to do. One did not expect that kind of behavior from such learned men, who were the best minds in the country. I believe their narrow-mindedness resulted from a lack of imagination as to what a woman was capable of doing. Also, I feel that, to a certain extent, they would have felt threatened to coexist in the same space as their female counterparts. The men in that day and age were accustomed to women playing second fiddle. They were just not ready to accept that they did not have to play supporting roles and could be in charge of their own destinies. Sally was told beforehand that after her mission, the media would hound her, and that she needed to be mentally prepared for that. But Sally withdrew into her own shell, as no matter how hard she tried, she was just not comfortable interacting with the media. Also, she did not think that she had any obligation to answer all those stupid questions that were asked of her. During press conferences she tried to keep her calm and very subtly ignore the questions that weren’t related to the mission or her work at NASA, but every time the reporters got on her nerves. In 1987 Sally decided to leave NASA, as, according to the documentary, she no longer had faith in the leadership after the disaster in which Judith Resnick lost her life. Ride was made a part of the Rogers Commission, which was established to investigate the disaster where the space shuttle Challenger exploded mid-air. It was found that the leadership knew about the technical problems, and yet they chose to go ahead with the mission, and it was because of their negligence that people ended up losing their lives. I don’t know if that was the only reason behind Sally’s decision to leave NASA or if she just wanted to spend some quiet time away from the limelight.
What kind of relationship did Sally have with Tam?
Sally got married to astronaut Steve Hawley, but it was just for appearances, as she never really loved him. Steve and Sally lived more like roommates than partners. Sally loved Tam, but she knew that the society wouldn’t accept their relationship, and she was not the sort to rebel openly against the established norms. Steve was well aware of Tam’s existence in Sally’s life, as Sally was someone who did things unabashedly. She didn’t speak about it explicitly, but she made it very clear through her actions what she actually wanted. Tam, in the documentary, made an observation that Sally was not very open with her parents, and how they were very formal when it came to discussing personal matters. One fine day, Sally arrived at Tam’s doorstep, and she told her that she wanted to be with her. Sally was married at that point, so Tam didn’t understand what the right thing to do in that situation was. In 1987, Sally divorced Steve Hawley, and the latter was, in a way, relieved, as he also knew that there was no point in continuing that relationship when there was nothing between them. Sally never made her relationship with Tam public, and that bothered the latter somewhere. Not that Tam wanted the world to know about them, but she just didn’t like hiding it from people. Sally was eventually diagnosed with cancer, and Tam was shattered when she got to know about it. Sally and Tam never talked about the funeral arrangements or death, but the former made it clear Tam had the freedom to tell the world about them if she wanted to. Sally told Tam that it was totally her decision, and so in the obituary that Tam wrote after Sally passed away, she made it public that she had been Sally’s partner for the past 27 years. Tam felt good when the world recognized her as Sally’s partner and considered her to be a part of the legacy. Sally passed away on 23rd July 2012, and just a year later, in 2013, Sally received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was a proud moment for Tam when she went on the stage, shook hands with President Barack Obama, and received the medal on Sally’s behalf. The government recognized the kind of challenges that Sally had had to face as a gay person, and the discrimination she had had to endure just because she was a woman. In July 2014, NASA celebrated its first LGBTQ pride event, and Tam and Bear (Sally’s sister) attended as proud custodians of Sally’s legacy.
