From an afternoon at the ballpark to Afternoon Tea, museums and science centers across the United States are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first American woman in space.
Sally's Night is a nationwide celebration of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) led by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Now in its third year, the event was named in honor of the late astronaut Sally Ride.
"We wanted to take inspiration from Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, because she was so much more than that," Emily Margolis, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum and founder of Sally's Night, said in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "She was not only an astronaut, but she was a scientist and an educator and a lifelong advocate for young people in STEM."
"We felt that her legacy really spoke to what we were hoping to do with this event, which is to use a central figure with name recognition, like Sally Ride, to catalyze a conversation about the ways in which women have contributed to spaceflight or STEM more broadly," said Margolis.
Related: Pioneering women in space: A gallery of astronaut firsts
