Program Description

After leaving NASA, Sally Ride devoted herself to science education, co-founding what became Sally Ride Science—a program built on the belief that inspiring curiosity in young people, especially those who don't see themselves represented in science, is as urgent a mission as any spaceflight. She was a true pioneer who shattered barriers and redefined what it means to be a leader, not just by going to space, but by coming back and saying: this matters to all of us, and all of us can contribute.

Sally Ride used the vantage point of low Earth orbit to make the invisible visible, to show the public that the planet's systems are fragile, interconnected, and worth protecting. The film Sally is, at its core, a story about what it costs and what it means to live and lead with courage in systems that weren't built with you in mind and to do it anyway, because the work is too important not to. That is a story every watershed volunteer, every river captain, every ambassador knows by heart.

The health of a river is never the work of one person. It is the cumulative result of hundreds of hands monitoring water clarity after a storm, removing invasive plants from a streambank, or participating in river clean-ups. This is the science and soul of community liaison work.