2-839-767 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

This slide rule belonged to Dr. Sally K. Ride. Before pocket-sized electronic calculators became available in the 1970s, slide rules were used as an aid to complex mathematical operations. Ride used this device as a university student taking courses in physics and astrophysics. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew on the STS-7 shuttle mission in 1983. Her second and last space mission was STS-41G in 1984.