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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Shortly before she died in 2012, astronaut Sally Ride told her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy that she could decide whether to disclose their relationship. O’Shaughnessy later chose to be honest in Ride’s obituary, making public that they had been together for 27 years. That account comes from O’Shaughnessy’s recollection reported by Biography.com; it describes a private exchange, not a public announcement by Ride.
What did Sally Ride tell Tam O’Shaughnessy?
In Biography.com’s June 2025 account, O’Shaughnessy recalled asking how she would be known to people who did not know they were a couple. Ride’s reported reply was: “You decide. Whatever you decide will be the right thing to do.”
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Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space | $11.05 | Buy on Amazon |
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Who Was Sally Ride? | $6.18 | Buy on Amazon |
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I am Sally Ride (Ordinary People Change the World) | $10.90 | Buy on Amazon |
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Sally Ride: Life on a Mission (A Real-Life Story) | $7.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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The wording matters: Ride left the decision to O’Shaughnessy. It supports saying she gave her partner discretion to disclose the relationship, rather than saying Ride planned to come out publicly herself. The exchange is a recollection attributed to O’Shaughnessy, not a recording or transcript of the private conversation. Biography.com’s account is the source for the quote and the disclosure story.
When did the public learn about their relationship?
After Ride died in July 2012, O’Shaughnessy identified herself as Ride’s partner in the obituary. The obituary said they had been together for 27 years. NASA later also described O’Shaughnessy as Ride’s life partner of 27 years. The relationship therefore became public after Ride’s death, not through a public announcement during her lifetime. NASA’s retrospective confirms the partnership duration.
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Who was Tam O’Shaughnessy?
O’Shaughnessy was Ride’s partner and a collaborator in science education. The two cofounded Sally Ride Science, an organization focused on advancing science education, particularly for girls and young women. NASA’s retrospective describes their partnership and shared work; the organization’s story is also part of the documentary Sally.
Why was their relationship private?
Biography.com reports O’Shaughnessy’s explanation that they kept the relationship private because of hostility and discrimination toward LGBTQ+ people at the time. That context helps explain why O’Shaughnessy faced a decision about how to describe herself after Ride’s death. It does not establish a broader public identity statement by Ride, so it is more accurate to describe the relationship and its later disclosure than to assign Ride a label she did not publicly use in this account.
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Ride’s public legacy and the documentary
Ride was a physicist and NASA astronaut. NASA selected her as an astronaut candidate in 1978, and in 1983 she became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger’s STS-7 mission. NASA’s biography provides the career context; it describes two space shuttle flights. NASA’s Sally Ride biography also details her work after leaving the agency.
National Geographic’s documentary Sally revisits Ride’s life and O’Shaughnessy’s account of their 27-year relationship. National Geographic describes the film on its documentary page. Biography.com reported in June 2025 that it had premiered on the National Geographic channel and was then streaming on Disney+ and Hulu; those services’ availability can vary by territory and change over time, so that dated report should not be treated as a current guarantee.
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Further reading
- Sally Ride by Lynn Sherr: Simon & Schuster describes this as a biography drawing on insights from Ride’s family and partner.
- Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space: Tam O’Shaughnessy’s photo-biography, described by Space.com as a book for younger readers.
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