“I understood that it was her fundamental nature, and she had a lot to lose, but I didn’t like it,” said O’Shaughnessy, although love was finally triumphed. “I wish that we could have been more open. I liked it. It would have been fun to share it more, even with some of her friends that she would not let in. She only let some people. And once we started the Scientific Education Society, there was no way. We knew that we depend on business sponsors. We just decided:” We had to hide it. “”
A privacy
Tam O’Shaughnessy and Sally roll in Sydney, Australia in 2004.
With the kind authorization of Tam O’Shaughness
Tam O’Shaughnessy and Sally roll in Sydney, Australia in 2004.
With the kind authorization of Tam O’Shaughness
Sally rolled in adolescence playing tennis in the 1960s.
With the kind authorization of Tam O’Shaughnessy
Sally rolled in adolescence playing tennis in the 1960s.
With the kind authorization of Tam O’Shaughnessy
Astronaut Sally Ride poses in her classic leather bomber on this unclear photo.
Bear Ride graceful
Astronaut Sally Ride poses in her classic leather bomber on this unclear photo.
Bear Ride graceful
Sally rolled in adolescence playing tennis in the 1960s.
With the kind authorization of Tam O’Shaughnessy
Astronaut Sally Ride poses in her classic leather bomber on this unclear photo.
Bear Ride graceful
Bear Ride, Sally Ride’s sister, is sitting for an interview.
National Geographic
Director Cristina Costantini behind the scenes of the recreation of the Sts-7 launch studio.
National Geographic / Parker Hill
Juggling these two very different aspects of Ride’s life posed a challenge to ExitDirector. “I really think there are two different films here,” said Costantini. “One is that Sally we all knew, which was almost too well documented. We had to bring 5,000 coils of the NASA archives and sort them to find jewels. It was a mountain of images and a large part of it was labeled as a period of the shuttle ” or something very non-specific. We also had to appear synchronization, because it did not have a sound.”
On the private side, she decided to count on several reconstructions. “There were not many photos and no sequences of these two together,” said Costantini. “So we decided to create our own visual language around this love story that would help illustrate Tam’s narration in these private moments. It is a careful weaving to move away from the very public and go into the very private. I love that history has these great moments of epic space and also these very calm and intimate moments, microscopy and celestial.”
“We really directed this film for anyone who must have hidden part of themselves to arrive where he wants to be, who is, in 2025, a more common experience than ever,” said Costantini. “I am very personally inspired by the bravery of Tam and Sally: the bravery of Sally to embark on a rocket in space, the bravery of Tam to live as a queer woman at a time when it was not celebrated by the dominant culture. I often think that there is a real lack of courageous people. I open the newspaper and I think:” Where all the courageous people? “Looking at Sally’s past, you can see echoes of some of the same difficulties we face today.
