This Thursday Lynn Sherr, author of the first full biography on late astronaut Sally Ride, appeared on The Colbert Report for a fascinating interview about the public and private life of America’s first woman in space.

Watch the full clip to hear Sherr–a rockstar in her own right–talk about America’s reluctance to train women astronauts (“NASA didn’t think that women were a priority […] before Sally Ride flew, the only three females NASA had flown were two spiders and a monkey”), Ride’s decision to keep her long-term girlfriend private, and how women in science will save the world.

To learn more about Ride’s fascinating life, check out Sally Ride: America’s First Woman In Space.

(via Space.com)

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