Astronaut Sally Ride Had a Net Worth That Wasn't Quite out of This World
Sally Ride should have made more money.
Published June 17 2025, 9:20 a.m. ET
On Jan. 1, 1977, Sally Ride was flipping through The Stanford Daily when a headline caught her eye. It read, "NASA to Recruit Women." The petite, tennis-playing physicist was intrigued by the article that said a "sex blind selection process" could result in the first American woman going to space. Unwilling to pass up such a unique opportunity, Sally threw her hat into the proverbial ring.
Of the more than 8,000 individuals who applied, Sally was one of 208 finalists. She made it through the next round and was the only woman left out of 20 potential astronauts. Because she was intelligent and already in good physical shape, Sally passed the exhaustive mental and physical exams. Five years after she heeded the call for space flight, Sally got a call from Director of Flight Crew Operations George Abbey. She was in. It changed her life, but maybe not her net worth. Let's take a look.
Sally Ride's net worth could have benefitted from a raise.
Although we don't know Sally's exact net worth at the time of her death in 2012, we do know what her salary was when she was an astronaut. According to Collect Space, Sally was classified as a G-12 civil servant whose salary would be $21,883. This was confirmed via a letter Sally received from NASA personnel officer Jack Lister on Jan. 16, 1978. That translates to $112,553 in 2025.
Quite a few items from Sally's estate are being auctioned off in June 2025 through Nate D. Sanders auctions. Fans of Sally's work will undoubtedly be interested in various correspondents regarding her status in the program. You can also bid on her signed NASA ID badge, NASA coveralls worn in space, a leather bomber jacket, and numerous medals, to name a few items. It's quite a haul.
What was Sally Ride's cause of death?
After two trips to space, a third trip was canceled following the January 1986 explosion of the Challenger. Sally was appointed to the Rogers Commission, the presidential commission investigating the disaster. She was an integral part of this investigation because it was Sally's discovery that zeroed in on the cause of the explosion. She figured out that O-rings get stiff in low temperatures.
Much of Sally's post-NASA life was spent in academia. First she landed at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control (CISAC). Then Sally became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. Her time in San Diego was shared with her partner Tam O'Shaughnessy who was with Sally when she died of pancreatic cancer in July 2012, per NBC San Diego.
A documentary about the trailblazing astronaut simply titled Sally was shown at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It's here that Tam opens up about the 27-year relationship she had with Sally. "Ten days before she died, I asked her how I should be to the public," Tam said to People. Sally told Tam that it was entirely up to her. "We had a wonderful relationship from the time we were kids until we became lovers," recalled Tam. "I think it's something to be proud of."