Google is celebrating the 64th birthday of America's first female astronaut and first woman in space, Sally Ride, with a series of five animated doodles on its homepage. The doodles are meant to show some of Ride's many accomplishments with bright colors and a playful approach that typified Ride's own perspective on her travels to space, according to animator Olivia Huynh. Ride ventured into space on June 18th, 1983. She came out posthumously in her obituary in 2012 which stated that she was survived by her partner Tam O'Shaugnessy. Ride died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Said O'Shaugnessy of Ride's efforts in the field of education:
"Studies show that the reason kids turn away from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is not that they don't like it or aren't good at it," writes Ride's partner Tam O'Shaughnessy in a blog post for Google. "Instead, young people get turned off because society sends false messages about who scientists are, what they do, and how they work. So Sally decided to use her high profile to motivate young people to stick with their interest in science and to consider pursuing STEM careers."
Watch a video taking you behind the scenes of today's Google doodle and into the life of Sally Ride, AFTER THE JUMP…
