Buzz
On June 18, 1983, Sally K. Ride made history as the first American woman to venture into space. Now, the Smithsonian Institution is working to share the remarkable history of her career, and they need your support to bring it to the public.
The National Air and Space Museum Archives houses the Sally K. Ride Papers, a collection of 38,640 pages (over 23 cubic feet) detailing Ride's career as an astronaut, physicist, and educator from the 1970s to the 2010s. These materials have been digitized to create an online guide, allowing researchers to navigate this treasure trove of information with ease.
To enhance the search process within this online guide, the Smithsonian is inviting volunteers to transcribe documents in the Smithsonian’s Transcription Center, a digital platform launched in 2013 where anyone can participate by typing and reviewing historical documents. Currently, three projects from the Sally K. Ride Papers are available for transcription, including her notes from shuttle training (1979-1981), documentation on the Remote Manipulator System Arm (still aboard the International Space Station), and notes from NASA commissions she participated in, such as the Rogers Commission, which investigated the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
To learn more about the documents involved in these projects, visit here. If you’re interested in becoming part of the Smithsonian's community of 'volunpeers' (as they call their transcribers), you can easily create a new user account here. All you need is a username and email address.
Explore more citizen science initiatives that you can get involved in from home here.
