Film Review: SALLY
by Karen Pecota

Cristina Costantini, USA 2025

Sally Ride (1951-2012) became the first American woman to travel into space on NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger’s STS-7 mission on June 18, 1983. At thirty-two years of age, Sally was at that time the youngest American to travel to outer space, not to mention the first American female. Her second flight was Space Shuttle Challenger’s STS-41G mission on October 5, 1984. In 1986, Sally was tasked to aid in the investigation of the Challenger’s STS-51L mission’s catastrophic accident. In 1987 Sally retired from NASA.

Sally’s journey as an astronaut began while working on her doctorate at Stanford University in the departments of science and engineering, where she answered an ad in the local newspaper for qualified people with her expertise that NASA posted in 1977. Months later, Sally was among six women to be selected for the NASA astronaut class of 1978.

Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Costantini has been a fan of Sally Ride since childhood. When the opportunity to document Sally’s journey as a trailblazer for women in the sciences, she was more than ready. What she did not know was a secret life Sally led for over twenty-seven years. It is this story that Costantini comes to feature in her venture to understand heroism on several levels in SALLY, a National Geographic Documentary.

To fully understand the persona of Sally Ride, Costantini intertwines NASA’s archival film footage, interviews from Billy Jean King, who knew Sally as a rising tennis star, to celebrated astronauts of Sally’s NASA class of 1978–Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, John Fabian, Steve Hawley (Sally’s ex-husband); to Sally’s sister Bear Ride, mother Joyce Ride, journalist and friend, Lynn Sherr, but most importantly Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Costantini says, “Sally was forced to suppress a large part of who she was to break the highest glass ceiling. A choice many women and queer people face today hiding a part of themselves to succeed.”

Adding, “I was drawn to telling the story of a trailblazing woman fighting for respect in a male-dominated world. This film is for anyone who has ever had to hide part of who they are to get where they want to be.” Concluding, “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.”

In 2001, Sally and Tam founded a company, Sally Ride Science, to pursue a life-long passion to motivate girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math, and technology. A legacy never to be forgotten.

Winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2025 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize