Slideshow: Astronaut Sally Ride

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See images from the life and career of astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space.

Launch slideshow

The White House and NASA say they will honor America's first woman in space, Sally Ride, by giving her a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom and putting her name on the camera she helped get installed on the International Space Station.

Word of the memorials came as NASA celebrated the late astronaut's life and legacy at a national tribute titled "Sally Ride: A Lifetime of Accomplishment, a Champion of Science Literacy," conducted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

Ride, who was trained as a physicist,  became the first American woman to go into space when she was launched on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. She made another spaceflight on Challenger in 1984. Two years later, that shuttle and its crew were lost in an explosion shortly after launch, and Ride served as a member of the panel investigating the tragedy.

She left NASA in 1987 and went on to co-found Sally Ride Science, a company focusing on science education for girls. She died last year at the age of 61 after a 17-month struggle with pancreatic cancer.

In a statement on Monday, President Barack Obama announced that Ride would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, during a White House ceremony later this year.

"We remember Sally Ride not just as a national hero, but as a role model to generations of young women," Obama said. "Sally inspired us to reach for the stars, and she advocated for a greater focus on the science, technology, engineering and math that would help us get there. Sally showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I look forward to welcoming her family to the White House as we celebrate her life and legacy."

Sally Ride's camera
NASA said a camera aboard the space station would be renamed the Sally Ride EarthKAM in honor of the late astronaut, who initiated the EarthKAM program in 1995. The camera was flown in space during five shuttle missions and was moved to the space station in 2001. The program makes it possible for middle-school students around the world to request pictures of specific locations on Earth. EarthKAM spawned a similar program known as MoonKAM, which was an outreach project flown as part of NASA's Grail mission to the moon.

The space agency also established a Sally Ride internship program to help students from underserved backgrounds pursue research interests at one of NASA's centers. As many as 10 internships will be available in the spring and fall semesters of each school year, NASA said in a news release.

"Sally's impact on our nation and future generations of explorers is immeasurable," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Godspeed, Sally Ride, and thank you for reminding us to reach higher, break barriers and dream big."

Monday's tribute at the Kennedy Center highlighted Ride's contributions to space exploration and science. The presenters included Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; tennis legend Billie Jean King; singer Patti Austin; and journalist Maria Shriver.

"Sally Ride Science is thrilled to be presenting a national tribute to Sally to honor her lifelong commitment to space exploration, but also to improving science education and to supporting science literacy for all students," Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's life partner, co-founder and chair of the board of Sally Ride Science, said in NASA's news release.

More about Sally Ride:

• US Navy names research ship after Sally Ride
• Moon impact site serves as Sally Ride memorial
• How Sally Ride handled the sexuality issue

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

American Library Association

Former astronaut Sally Ride, left, and her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, discuss the role of women in science and how the earth's climate is changing during a 2008 American Library Association conference in Anaheim, Calif. Ride and O'Shaughnessy collaborated on several children's books on science.

In life, Sally Ride became famous as America's first woman in space — and in death, she's now added to her fame as the first acknowledged gay astronaut.

The revelation came in a low-key way: Monday's obituary from Sally Ride Science, the educational venture she founded a decade ago, referred to Tam O'Shaughnessy as "her partner of 27 years." A spokeswoman for Sally Ride Science, Terry McEntee, said Ride and O'Shaughnessy, who is the company's chief operating officer and executive vice president, worked out the phrasing of the announcement before Ride's death.

In an email today, Sally Ride's sister, Bear Ride, explained why the former astronaut kept quiet about her sexual orientation.

"In her inherent Norwegian reticence — in this and so many aspects of her personal life (wrestling with pancreatic cancer, for example) — she just didn't talk much (see Norwegian comment, and add to that the typical tight-lipped scientist thing)," Bear wrote. "If you read interviews from years and years back, you'll see that there was always a major frustration that she didn't comment much on 'how it feels to be the first American woman in space' — she just didn't think that way. She wanted to get the job done. Her personal feelings were just that: personal. Not right or wrong — simply Sally. Everyone who knows her well really got that about her."

Bear, a gay Presbyterian minister, takes a different approach.

"I'm a rather out-there advocate for LGBT [lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender] rights — my partner and I have even been arrested a couple of times in public protest!" she told me. "But that's me, and not Sally."

Here's the essay that Bear Ride has been sending around as a tribute to her sister:

"Sally Ride was the first American woman to go into space and she was my big sister. Sally died peacefully on July 23rd after a courageous 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.  I was at her side. We grew up in Encino, CA. Our parents, Joyce and Dale Ride, encouraged us to study hard, to do our best and to be anything we wanted to be.  In 1983 Newsweek quoted our father as saying, 'We might have encouraged, but mostly we just let them explore.' Our parents encouraged us to be curious, to keep our minds and hearts open and to respect all persons as children of God. Our parents taught us to explore, and we did. Sally studied science and I went to seminary. She became an astronaut and I was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

"Sally lived her life to the fullest with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence, passion, joy, and love. Her integrity was absolute; her spirit was immeasurable; her approach to life was fearless. Sally died the same way she lived: without fear.  Sally's signature statement was 'Reach for the Stars.' Surely she did this, and she blazed a trail for all the rest of us.

"My sister was a very private person. Sally had a very fundamental sense of privacy, it was just her nature, because we're Norwegians, through and through. People did not know she had pancreatic cancer, this is bound to be a huge shock. For 17 months, nobody knew, and everyone does now. Her memorial fund is going to be in support of pancreatic cancer.

"Most people did not know that Sally had a wonderfully loving relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy for 27 years.  Sally never hid her relationship with Tam. They were partners, business partners in Sally Ride Science, they wrote books together, and Sally's very close friends, of course, knew of their love for each other.  We consider Tam a member of our family.

"I hope the pancreatic cancer community is going to be absolutely thrilled that there's now this advocate that they didn't know about.  And, I hope the GLBT community feels the same. I hope it makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them."

Sex has always been a tricky topic for astronauts: In the old days, they worried that if they didn't conform with the "Right Stuff" stereotype, they wouldn't be picked for spaceflights. Issues such as alcohol abuse or marital problems often were swept under the carpet. Is it any surprise, then, that no active or former astronauts have publicly announced that they're gay? Michael Cassutt, the author of "Who's Who in Space," is quoted on Space.com as saying that such an announcement would be a "career-wrecker."

Men and women have been working together on U.S. spacecraft since Ride's history-making flight in 1983. Why not straights and gays? Maybe Sally Ride's low-key way of coming out will represent one small step toward greater acceptance and acknowledgment of the LGBT contribution to the space effort. (I'm using the term "gay" here as admittedly inadequate shorthand for the LGBT community. The fact that Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steven Hawley from 1982 to 1987 complicates any effort to categorize Ride's perspective, based on the public record. And Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner quotes Bear Ride as saying "Sally didn't use labels.")

Slideshow: Astronaut Sally Ride

- / AFP/Getty Images

See images from the life and career of astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space.

Launch slideshow

Ride's legacy lives on
Ride would no doubt be uncomfortable with a public discussion of her sexuality. She was uncomfortable enough with the celebrity that surrounded her as the first American woman in space. Based on the comments from her family and co-workers, Ride's main concern in the last days of her life was making sure that Sally Ride Science survived her passing.

"I was very fortunate to spend time with her right before she passed away," said Karen Flammer, a research physicist at the University of California at San Diego and one of the founders of Sally Ride Science. "We were able to talk about what she envisioned for our company, and our legacy and her legacy."

Ride's status as a former astronaut wasn't uppermost in her mind, Flammer told me. "Her true passion really was science education, and inspiring more young people, particularly girls, to follow a career path in science and technology," she said.

Since Ride's death, Sally Ride Science's donors have confirmed that they "want to continue funding and supporting our programs," Flammer said. "The transition will be hard, but we want to keep going as a tribute to her."

Those programs include science camps as well as global outreach efforts such as EarthKAM, which lets middle-school students request pictures of Earth to be taken by a digital camera aboard the International Space Station. "We've engaged hundreds of thousands of middle-school students, not only in this country, but around the world," Flammer said.

A similar program, called MoonKAM, lets kids select targets for pictures taken by NASA's GRAIL lunar probes.

Flammer said there will be a new chief executive officer for the company: a woman who has had experience running other educational companies and "who is going to share all of our passions." However, Flammer said it's still too early to announce the CEO's name.

And speaking of names, Flammer and her colleagues are looking into somehow putting Sally Ride's name in space. "Right now, we're in the process of working with NASA on what types of things we can do in her honor. ... Her tribute statement always was 'Reach for the Stars.' That's how she ended the talks she gave to students, or to adults. So we're keeping that in mind with whatever we come up with."

But the most valuable tribute to her memory will be Sally Ride Science.

"She never wanted the celebrity status," Flammer told me. "What she really wanted was for her legacy to continue. This is what she wants to survive her and live on: her name, and her science education company."

In memoriam
Sally Ride Science's Terry McEntee said the memorial service would be private, but if you want to pay tribute to America's first woman astronaut, here's what the company's website suggests:

"In lieu of flowers, you may wish to make a gift in memory of Sally to the Sally Ride Pancreatic Cancer Initiative (Fund 4191). Checks should be made out to: UCSD Foundation. Also, in either the memo line or in an enclosed note, please state that the gift is made in memory of Sally Ride or to the Sally Ride Pancreatic Cancer Initiative (Fund 4191).

"Gift mailing address: Pam Werner, Executive Director of Development, UCSD Health Sciences Dev., 9500 Gilman Dr. #0853, La Jolla, CA 92093-0853."

"If you prefer using a credit card, please call Pam Werner at 858-246-1556. Please note that 94 percent of donations will go toward pancreatic cancer research at UCSD Moore's Cancer Center."

More about Sally Ride:

• First US woman in Space, Sally Ride, dies at 61
• Tributes stream in: 'Ride, Sally, Ride'
• Why pancreatic cancer is so deadly

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

If Sally Ride could have flown in space without the hubbub over being the first American woman to do so, she'd have done it in a heartbeat. Celebrity wasn't her thing. The final frontier was.

That comes through loud and clear in Ride's own reminiscences of her selection as NASA's first female space traveler. She recalled getting a "little chat" from Chris Kraft, the head of NASA's Johnson Space Center, just to make sure "I knew what I was getting into before I agreed to be on the crew."

"But I was so dazzled just by the opportunity to be on the crew and go into space that I really don't remember very much of what he said," she said.

Ride had to deal with the full force of the media hoopla surrounding her history-making spaceflight in 1983. One questioner asked whether she'd wear a bra in space. "There is no sag in zero-G," she famously answered. (By some accounts, NASA research since then has led to the development of better sports bras.)

Eventually, Ride found it easier to avoid the celebrity spotlight. "I'm the sort of person who likes to be able to just walk into the supermarket and not be recognized," she told The Associated Press in 2003. "I can do that most of the time now. A lot of people recognize the name. Very few recognize my face. That's very good."

Now that Ride has passed away at the age of 61, after battling pancreatic cancer for 17 months, there's going to be another posthumous surge of celebrity. Once again, there'll be chatter about Ride's illness, which she reportedly asked NASA not to publicize, as well as her personal relationships. But for now, the focus should be squarely on her contribution to space exploration — as the woman who broke the space barrier, who helped investigate two of NASA's toughest tragedies, who helped shape America's space vision, and who fostered the next generation of explorers through such ventures as Sally Ride Science, EarthKAM and MoonKAM. That's the legacy that comes through loud and clear in the tributes from the White House and NASA, as well as the tributes from these other luminaries:

Slideshow: Astronaut Sally Ride

AFP/Getty Images

See images from the life and career of astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space.

Launch slideshow

Eileen Collins, NASA's first woman shuttle commander:
"I am surprised and saddened by the news of Sally Ride’s passing.  She was such a wonderful role model and source of inspiration to me.  People around the world still recognize her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing NASA.  She mentored me several times during my astronaut career, leaving me with many cherished memories.  She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job.  Her Sally Ride Science programs have reached thousands of middle-school girls, giving them the confidence to stay focused on math and science, even when the mass media message was otherwise.  She also played a notable role in both the Challenger and Columbia accident investigations.  Sally left us too soon. Godspeed, Sally, you will be greatly missed."

Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate; former Massachusetts governor:
"Today, America lost one of its greatest pioneers. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride inspired millions of Americans with her determination to break the mold of her time. She was a profile in courage, and while she will be missed, her accomplishments will never be forgotten."

Bill Nye (the Science Guy), executive director, Planetary Society:
"Sally Ride changed the world. We are very sorry to hear of her recent death after a nearly two-year battle with cancer. Dr. Ride was an excellent astronaut, a remarkable educator, and a longtime Planetary Society friend and adviser. Her particular passion was to get girls excited about science. She did just that. Her Sally Ride Science programs, which include camps, academies, educator institutes and festivals, will carry her legacy into the future. I encourage everyone to take a moment over the next few days and honor Sally Ride by giving a young person a reminder that she or he could pursue a career in science and change the world just as Sally did. She will be missed."

Nancy Conrad, founder and chairman of the Conrad Foundation; widow of Apollo moonwalker Pete Conrad:
"The Conrad Foundation and our students and partners are saddened to hear of Sally Ride’s untimely death. Sally was a great physicist, astronaut, educator and American hero. She dedicated her life to bringing the world of science to girls with her Sally Ride Science Academy and Camps. She was a wonderful role model for young women and girls and will be sadly missed. We salute her contribution to our nation and to our future."

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Science and Space Subcommittee:
"Sally Ride was one of the great pioneers as the first American woman in space. The whole nation was with her when she launched,  lifting her up on a chorus of 'Ride, Sally, Ride.'"

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, chairman, House Science, Space and Technology Committee:
"I am very saddened by the news that my friend Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut to fly in space, has passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.  Sally was an inspiration to all, and her historic flight into space showed aspiring young women that they too could be successful in fields such as physics and engineering that had historically been dominated by men. Generations to come will reflect on Sally as an individual who broke barriers, demonstrated brave leadership, and taught the world to think a little differently.  Sally’s legacy will be reflected in all of the young girls she inspired to pursue careers in science and engineering."

Neil deGrasse Tyson, director, Hayden Planetarium: "Space programs create unique portfolios of heroes — in life and in death. US Shuttle astronaut Sally Ride 1951-2012, RIP."

Doug King, president and CEO, Museum of Flight:
"We are saddened by the news of Sally Ride’s death and send our deepest condolences to her family.  Many of us clearly remember in 1983, watching her board the space shuttle Challenger as she literally blazed a trail as the first woman in space.  She touched all of our lives and in particular was an incredible role model for young women everywhere, demonstrating that a career as an astronaut could be reality.  We have a great deal of respect for her accomplishments as an astronaut and an educator and her lifelong dedication to STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math).  She will be missed."

Lon Rains, chairman, Coalition for Space Exploration:
"Today, the Coalition for Space Exploration is saddened to say goodbye to our dear friend and colleague Sally Ride — physicist, astronaut, educator and American hero.  After her trailblazing career in space, Sally dedicated her life to the mission of opening the world of science to girls, with the Sally Ride Science Academy and Camps. She was a role model, a mentor and one of our most effective champions for STEM education. Our sorrow in her passing is only exceeded by our deep respect and gratitude for her contributions to our nation and our future."

Elliot Pulham, CEO, Space Foundation:
"The space community, teachers and students around the world have lost a great friend and role model. Sally was more than a trailblazing astronaut and brilliant scientist. She was deeply concerned about the state of education in the United States, and worked tirelessly to reach students, especially at-risk young women, with programs filled with hope and inspiration — to enable our next generation of explorers. Whether on board a space shuttle, inside a corporate board room, or with students at one of her Sally Ride Science events, she was a motivational and inspiring leader. She was a friend to all explorers, and she will be deeply missed."

Scott Parazynski, chairman, Challenger Center for Space Science Education:
"We are deeply saddened to hear of Sally Ride's passing. Her passion brought STEM education to the forefront and for that we will be forever grateful. She will continue to be a great source of inspiration for students around the globe. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones."

Other untimely passings:

• Janice Voss, veteran astronaut, dies at 55
• Astronaut Alan Poindexter dies in jet ski accident

Feel free to add your own tributes and reminiscences about the past, as well as reflections about Sally Ride's legacy for future generations, in the comment space below.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.