EXCLUSIVE: On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride broke the ultimate glass ceiling, soaring into space as America’s first woman astronaut. For a time, she became the most famous person on Earth.
Almost 42 years to the day after Ride left the planet aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, the documentary Sally, directed by Emmy winner Cristina Costantini, will premiere on National Geographic. A day after the June 16 debut on NatGeo, the film will begin streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
We have your first look at the film – winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival – in the trailer above.
Astronaut Sally Ride monitors control panels from the pilot’s chair on the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Challenger, June 25, 1983.
Everett Collection
“Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret,” notes a release. “Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, tells the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time. The film features interviews with tennis champion and close friend to Ride, Billie Jean King; Sally’s sister, Bear Ride; and mother, Carol Joyce Ride, along with additional members of NASA’s class of 1978: Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, John Fabian and Steve Hawley.”
In a statement, Costantini said, “I can’t recall the exact moment that Sally Ride first captured my imagination, but I know that I’ve been obsessed with her story from a very young age. I was drawn to telling the story of a trailblazing woman fighting for respect in a male-dominated world. But above all, I wanted to explore the beautiful, unknown love story between Sally and Tam O’Shaughnessy. Their enduring relationship was kept secret from the public for 27 long years. 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.”
NASA’s first class of female astronauts who completed training in 1979. L-R: Shannon Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn, Sullivan, Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, and Sally Ride.
Everett Collection
Ride joined NASA in 1978, the same year she earned her PhD in physics from Stanford University. “She was plucked right out of grad school, PhD program, and then all of a sudden thrust into the media spotlight and it was hard. Very, very difficult,” Costantini told Deadline at Sundance. “Ours is a story of her journey into space and also her love story — a 27-yearlong romance with her life partner Tam, which was kept private from the public and some of their closest friends until the day she died.”
In additional to her intellectual brilliance, Ride was also an outstanding athlete, excelling at golf and tennis, among other sports. She met O’Shaughnessy, her future life partner, when they were preteens participating in elite level tennis in Southern California. O’Shaughnessy eventually became a pro player, and later a professor of psychology and author of 12 children’s science books (including half a dozen co-authored by Ride).
(L-R) Cristina Costantini and Tam O’Shaughnessy attend the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize reception for ‘Sally’ at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival
Cindy Ord/Getty Images
“Sally was a true pioneer—a hero who shattered barriers for girls and women and redefined what it means to be a leader,” said O’Shaughnessy, film participant and executive producer of Sally. “I want the world to see Sally for who she truly was: passionate, private, ambitious, brave, funny, loyal, comfortable in her own skin and, above all, full of love. Our relationship was unique and transformative, and it deeply shaped both of our lives. It was important to me that this film not only celebrate Sally’s legacy but also share the story of our bond. I’m forever grateful to Cristina Costantini, National Geographic Documentary Films, Story Syndicate, and the entire team for bringing this story to life, one that couldn’t be told until now and is more relevant than ever.”
Sally is a Story Syndicate production in association with Muck Media. The film is directed by Cristina Costantini (Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, Science Fair). Oscar winner Dan Cogan and Jon Bardin of Story Syndicate serve as producers along with Lauren Cioffi and Costantini. Writers of the film are Tom Maroney and Costantini. Executive producers include Oscar nominee Liz Garbus, Tam O’Shaughnessy, Kate Barry, Mala Chapple, Tom Maroney, Carolyn Bernstein with National Geographic Documentary Films, and Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch.
National Geographic Documentary Films
As the film explores – and the trailer shows – Ride faced a barrage of sexism as she endeavored to become America’s first woman astronaut, sexism that came from male astronauts at NASA as well as the news media. It is unthinkable that she could have achieved her dream of becoming a shuttle astronaut had she come out as gay in the 1970s.
“We have two stories in our film. One is her fight to get into space and the sexism and the difficulty that she had just proving that she should be there,” Costantini told Deadline. “And then of course, this amazing love story that we wanted to capture that couldn’t be celebrated at the time and we wanted to celebrate it now… We’re so lucky that Tam O’Shaughnessy, Sally’s life partner, was so vulnerable in her retelling of their story and how they came to be this beautiful couple.”
Watch the trailer for Sally above.
Content shared from deadline.com.