When Sally Ride flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, she became the first American woman to reach space. She graduated from Stanford University with a PhD in physics before being accepted to the astronaut core in 1978. Following the loss of Challenger in 1986, Ride served on the presidential commission to investigate the accident. Once she left NASA, Ride started her own company to inspire girls and young women to pursue their interests in science and related fields.

Astronaut Jessica Watkins, who earned her PhD in Geology from the University of California, Los Angeles, spent 170 days in space in 2022. Watkins said that her experience wouldn’t have been possible if not for women like Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson; finally celebrated in Hidden Figures. To prepare for her voyages to space, Watkins trained in simulated space environments, like the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission in the only Aquatic habitat in the world.

Christina Hernandez is a systems engineer who worked on NASA’s Perseverance, the newest rover on the Red Planet. Her job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California included the design and testing of the rover to be sure it would be operational once it arrived on the Martian surface. Her advice to others? Be as fearless as possible since “every explorer fails, but they also learn from failures.”

After graduating from Howard University in 1950 with a master’s degree in mathematics, Melba Roy Mouton worked for the Army Map Service and Census Bureau before transferring to NASA in 1959. She headed a group of NASA mathematicians, known as “computers,” who tracked early Echo satellites in Earth orbit. Her computations helped produce the orbital element timetables by which millions saw the satellite from Earth as it passed overhead.

Hedy Lamarr was an inventor who helped pioneer the technology that helped American naval torpedoes avoid being detected by the Nazis. Some of her work would partly become the basis for WiFi and GPS. Born in Austria in 1914, Lamarr was a pianist, dancer, and could speak four languages, and was interested in inventing and improving devices. She began acting as a teenager and eventually starred in many Hollywood films. In 2014, Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Mae Jemison is a physician, Peace Corps volunteer, teacher, astronaut, dancer, entrepreneur, and speaks four languages. She earned her doctorate in medicine from Cornell University. In 1983, she applied to the NASA program, after being inspired by Sally Ride, the first woman in space, and Nichelle Nichols, an actor in Star Trek. In 1992, Dr. Jemison flew into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African-American woman in space.

By the time Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 16, 1963, she had already spent much of her life in the air. She became interested in parachuting at a young age, which led her to be recruited into the Soviet space program. Along with four other women, Tereshkova trained for 18 months to prepare for space flight. She was the only one of the five who ultimately flew into space. During her mission, Tereshkova orbited the Earth 48 times.

Astrophysicist Vera Rubin discovered evidence that the Universe was made of more than what could be seen with telescopes—today known as "dark matter". Born in 1928, she was drawn to watching the stars. Rubin was the sole astronomy major in her graduating class at Vassar in 1948. After Princeton denied her admittance to graduate school due to her being a woman, Rubin would eventually complete her PhD at Georgetown. She was a life-long advocate for women in science and scientific literacy.

Born in 1908, Mary Golda Ross was a member of the Cherokee Nation, and thought to be the first professional Native American female engineer. In 1942, after teaching math and science in rural Oklahoma, she earned a master’s degree and was hired as a mathematician for the Lockheed Corporation in California. During her career, she worked on many projects involving aeronautics and interplanetary spaceflight.

Ellen Ochoa worked as the 11th director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Ochoa received her PhD from Stanford University as a physics and optics researcher. She became the first Latina woman astronaut to go into space when she served aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993. In subsequent years, she joined three more space flights, logging more than 40 days in space. In 2018, she was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame.

By converting scientific data into sound, astronomer Wanda Diaz Merced is helping to explore the Universe. Through a process called “sonification,” she turns data from cosmic objects, including stars, into audible sound through physical properties like pitch and duration. After completing an undergraduate degree in astronomy, she received her PhD in computer science. "If we only see with our eyes, our perception is very narrow," said Diaz, who lost her sight as a young adult.

Cady Coleman’s accomplishments include being a U.S. Air Force colonel, obtaining a PhD in chemistry, and serving as an astronaut. She logged over 180 days in space. In 1999, she was the mission specialist for STS-93 that launched NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Coleman became the Chief of Robotics for NASA’s Astronaut Office and then returned to space for a mission aboard the International Space Station. She took her flute with her for her stay and played the first ever Space-Earth duet.

When Ellen Stofan became Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 2018, she was the first woman to hold the position. Prior to that, she had over 25 years in space exploration, including as NASA’s Chief Scientist, where she helped develop plans to get humans to Mars and get more private companies into low-Earth orbit. She is also a researcher who has focused on the geology of Venus and Mars, and currently is the Under Secretary for Science & Research at the Smithsonian.

As a graduate student at Cambridge in 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her colleagues discovered unusual radio signals emitting from space. The objects creating these signals came to be known as “pulsars,” rapidly rotating, dense cores of dead stars created by supernovas. In 2018, she was awarded the Breakthrough Prize for her role in the discovery of pulsars, and for her scientific leadership. She donated a majority of the $3 million prize to fund physics students from underrepresented groups.

Sunita (Suni) Williams is an astronaut who piloted 40 different types of naval aircraft, has flown in three different spacecraft, and commanded the International Space Station. In 2007, she ran the first marathon by any person in space. Williams is also bridging the gap between NASA crewed flights and the private commercial efforts from companies like SpaceX and Boeing. She has been tapped to fly on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft for its orbital spaceflight.

How can we expand the limits of human knowledge further into the unknown? The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard College Observatory that asks – and answers – some of the big questions about the universe. We build the tools needed, place them where they need to be around the globe or in space, and share the resulting discoveries with the world.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope designed to detect X-ray emission from hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and black holes. Because X-rays are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, Chandra orbits above it, about a third of the way to the moon at its farthest. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA, hosts the Chandra X-ray Center which operates the satellite, processes the data, and distributes it to scientists for analysis.

As these STEM stars exemplify, career success is built upon collaboration and supportive partners. Reach Across the Stars is nurtured by the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center/Chandra X-ray Observatory, and NASA's Universe of Learning. Through their generous support, we will soon add 6 new STEM Stars and Spanish translation to this Guide and our AR App. Please download and enjoy Reach Across the Stars, and check back soon for more inspiring stories.