The official trailer is out for Sally, a new documentary about Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and the film promises to explore her relationship with her female partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy, something that became public knowledge only upon Ride’s death in 2012.
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“Sally risked everything to make history,” O’Shaughnessy says in the documentary. “But telling the world about us was a risk she just couldn’t take.”
The film from National Geographic is directed by Emmy-winning director Cristina Costantini of Muck Media and produced by Costantini, Lauren Cioffi, Oscar and Emmy winner Dan Cogan, and Emmy winner Jon Bardin of Story Syndicate. O’Shaughnessy is executive producer. It will be shown on the National Geographic channel June 16 at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central and will be available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. The release is timed close to the anniversary of Ride’s history-making flight, which took place June 18, 1983, on the space shuttle Challenger.
Sally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has been screened at several other festivals since. “The sense that on a perfect planet, or merely an open and just society, Ride should have been able to be the remarkable astronaut she was and live ‘out and proud and all that stuff,’ to quote O’Shaughnessy, pervades ‘Sally,’” Variety reported in a review of the Sundance screening. “Much of the film is informed by O’Shaughnessy’s accounts of their relationship. (They first met at tweens at a tennis camp where Billie Jean King taught.)”
King is featured in the film, along with Sally’s sister, Bear Ride; her mother, Carol Joyce Ride; O’Shaughnessy; and other astronauts who entered the space program with Ride in 1978: Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, John Fabian, and Steve Hawley. Hawley was married to Ride for five years prior to her relationship with O’Shaughnessy. In the doc, Hawley says he and Ride married "in good faith," although he suspected she was gay but wasn't sure.
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The film, which mixes interviews, archival footage, and reenactments, delves into not only the homophobia that kept Ride from coming out but also the pervasive sexism the first women astronauts faced. “Costantini’s astute choice of clips shines a light on the culture at the time in all its sexism and homophobia,” The Hollywood Reporternoted. “As Ride says, ‘The only bad moments in our training involved the press.’ Kathy Sullivan, who was in Ride’s training class, describes the press posing stereotypical questions about romance, makeup and family to the groundbreaking women astronauts. Ride had no patience for such silly questions.” NASA officials also wondered if a woman would need 100 tampons for a week in space.
“Sally was a true pioneer — a hero who shattered barriers for girls and women and redefined what it means to be a leader,” O’Shaughnessy said in a press release. “I want the world to see Sally for who she truly was: passionate, private, ambitious, brave, funny, loyal, comfortable in her own skin and, above all, full of love. Our relationship was unique and transformative, and it deeply shaped both of our lives. It was important to me that this film not only celebrate Sally’s legacy but also share the story of our bond. I’m forever grateful to Cristina Costantini, National Geographic Documentary Films, Story Syndicate, and the entire team for bringing this story to life, one that couldn’t be told until now and is more relevant than ever.”
“I can’t recall the exact moment that Sally Ride first captured my imagination, but I know that I’ve been obsessed with her story from a very young age,” Constantini said in the release. “I was drawn to telling the story of a trailblazing woman fighting for respect in a male-dominated world. But above all, I wanted to explore the beautiful, unknown love story between Sally and Tam O’Shaughnessy. Their enduring relationship was kept secret from the public for 27 long years. Our film celebrates the Sally we all knew through her accomplishments and, for the first time, pays homage to the one we never could know.”
Ride flew again on Challenger in 1984. She went on to teach at the University of California, San Diego, and to found Sally Ride Science, a nonprofit organization that seeks to encourage young people who are interested in scientific careers. O’Shaughnessy became a professional tennis player, then earned degrees in biology and psychology and became a science teacher. She worked with Ride on six books and helped lead Sally Ride Science.
Ride's life and legacy are also set to be explored in a miniseries, The Challenger, starring queer actress Kristen Stewart as Ride. The series in in pre-production.
