On this day 30 years ago — June 18, 1983 — Sally Ride became the first American women in space, as part of the space shuttle Challenger mission. She was one of six women selected to NASA's 1978 astronaut class of 35 total people, a hugely different female to male ratio than we saw this week with NASA's 2013 group of astronaut candidates, which was half women. After traveling to space during the Challenger mission in 1983 and again in 1984, Sally became the inspiration for a generation of girls to follow their science dreams, an area that had been long deemed "boys only."
Though she retired from NASA in 1987, Sally — who held a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford — continued to work in the sciences. She founded her own company, Sally Ride Science, whose purpose was to motivate young students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math. She was an honoree in the National Women's Hall of Fame, the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and was given the National Space Grant Distinguished Service Award by President Obama before her death in 2012 at the age of 61.
The notoriously press-shy former astronaut chose to let her work speak for itself, rather than in publicity, but after reading a rare interview from 1999 with the Los Angeles Times, we can't help but be charmed by the following six excerpts from the interview, adding to the reasons she's one of our heroes.
In the wake of the NSA PRISM Internet surveillance scandal, and despite tech companies' protests that they knew nothing about the program, we're adding extra security to our Internet use. Disconnect 2 is an update to the popular Disconnect Chrome browser extension, created by a former Google engineer to keep personal data transmitted online private, and not tracked by the companies whose sites you visit.
Currently available as extensions for Chrome and Firefox (the company is working on Safari and Opera versions), Disconnect 2 stops over 2,000 third-party sites from tracking the personal information you input online. Once downloaded, a toolbar on the browser gives a real-time view of the websites that would be grabbing information about your search habits or recent location check-ins were you not using the tool.
Not only does it block the transmission of browsing history, but also, Disconnect encrypts data you choose to share on sites, just in case it one day falls into the hands of a separate company or person. The software is pay-what-you-can, with the option to allot some of the money to Disconnect, and some to Internet nonprofits like ProPublica, Center For Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Tor Project. So you can help the digital good while protecting your digital life.
If there's one time in the day to get out of the house on a photo walk, it's golden hour. Instagram user faundez_alex, shares this picture of a lighthouse on Geneva Lake, taken with the VSCO app.
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
Over a year after posting a call for astronaut applications, NASA introduced the 2013 astronaut candidate class on Monday, half of which are female, the highest percentage ever selected in one group by NASA. Over 6,300 people applied for the eight available positions, which begin training Aug.1 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, home of the astronaut corps and Mission Control.
This marks the 21st class of NASA astronaut candidates, all of whom had to undergo a rigorous interview process that included medical, language aptitude, and mobility tests. The eight individuals will join the current 49 active NASA astronauts in the organization's future pursuit of the first manned mission to an asteroid in the 2020 decade, with the goal of one day putting humans on Mars. Currently, the US astronauts' main mission is supporting the global efforts of the International Space Station.
As a NASA representative said during a Google+ Hangout to introduce the eight candidates, the four women chosen were not deliberately selected to represent an equal gender pool, rather they were the most qualified group of people, and a "tribute to women today." Here, an introduction to the impressive women of the 2013 astronaut class.
Christina M. Hammock
Nicole Aunapu Mann
Keep reading to meet the national women's rugby player and the Harvard medical professor that may one day man space missions.
We're headed to the beach with this month's must haves, geeks! Prep for the start of Summer fun with solar-powered speakers, a beach-appropriate iPhone case, splash-proof tablet gear, and even an amphibious robotic vehicle for your drinks — which is so necessary when relaxing is in order. Read on for the tech goods to pack before hitting the sand.
Tough and brave, yes, but cute and bubbly? Not usually words we associate with superheroes. In time for your Comic-Con wardrobe, pop culture t-shirt shop We Love Fine's new line of chibi — a term used in anime to mean a small, cute character — t-shirts has just the right amount of sass for the upcoming convention. Add some Black Widow, Iron Man, and the rest of your crime-fighting favorites to your wardrobe when you read on.
Remember what Craig Owen's baby tells the Doctor he calls dad? Put your Whovian pops proficiency to the test today with the Doctor Who Father's Day Quiz.
Don't worry about hitting up the Gallifrey archive, the quiz focuses on the characters modern Who watchers are most familiar with across Doctors Nine, Ten, and Eleven. Then vote for your favorite dad that's appeared in the space-time continuum. Based on the included picture in this post, you may be able to guess who we're rooting for — ahem, the Doctor's former flatmate, Craig.
When an Apple keynote is scheduled, bring on the new gadget news! While major changes happened to the Apple ecosystem, other technology companies introduced their own slew of "game-changers." Catch up on the latest from social networks, smartphones, and our own new geek obsession in Tech Recap.
IPhone users have been begging for the ability to take their Excel, PowerPoint, and Word documents on the go since, well, the iPhone was created in 2007. Today, productivity dreams came true as Microsoft announced Office 365 for iPhone users. Available for download from the App Store on Friday, Office 365 Home Premium and ProPlus subscribers can use the app to view, edit, and comment on documents for no extra charge.
The iPhone app makes use of the cloud-based Office 365, available for $100 per year to be used across five devices like your work and home computers, or any other mobile devices. Using SkyDrive, the app syncs Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to wherever you left off when previously logged in to Office 365. Documents are organized in the most recently opened panel, and can be identified by type with icons for Excel, Word, or PowerPoint.
Using the wide-angle olloclip, this shot by Instagram user cyrenakh of the Grand Palace in Brussels, Belgium, is phoneography at it's finest!
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
Planning a wedding requires a bit of scientific alchemy in itself, so when science pros decide to form a cohesive bond for life, expect to see lab work come to life. This wedding inspiration session — titled "Science of Love — was planned by Unique Event Design and shared with us by Mariana Mosli of Kismis Ink Photography. Shot at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa Bay, FL, the event reflects the interests and careers of the couple down to tiny details to use a square-root symbol in paper goods to reflect the bride and groom's shared first initial.
From the Periodic Table of Friends and Family that serves as a seating chart, food with a dash of molecular gastronomy, and beakers that serve as simply beautiful vases, read on for a look at how romantic science can be.
While some techies cry the hashtag is dead, it seems Facebook believes they're essential for the social part of social networks, as the company began rolling out hashtags to users Wednesday. Use that pound sign just as you would on Twitter, to interact with friends and strangers on trending topics like #ios7 and #gameofthrones, or, you know, life things like #sorryimnotsorry.
Search for hashtags in the top search bar, where a pop-up of posts with that tag will populate from friends, pages, and any users with public share settings. Join the conversation within the feed, which includes a compose post field with the hashtag auto added. With this initial push, you won't be able to see what's trending across the network, but according to a Facebook spokesperson, it's a feature that will be coming in the next several weeks.
With the continued prevalence of hashtags across most social networks — Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, and even Pinterest — it is a bit surprising this change to how Facebookers access information is just coming now, nearly 10 years after the site debuted. After years of keeping the hashtag lifestyle off your Facebook updates, will you start using them in status updates or to follow hot topics?
Get a closer look at a Facebook hashtag search after the break.
Second stop for Instagram user thompsonlxs_'s Museum Mile tour in New York City is the Museum of the City of New York. We love the between-the-chandelier perspective!
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
It's been two years since the unveiling of Nintendo's Wii U at E3, so rather than recent years' demonstration of how to use the new technology and Game Pad, the company's E3 news centered on the upcoming releases of classic franchise titles updated for the console.
Many of the Wii U titles will launch in the later part of 2013, in time for the holiday season, while others are planned for 2014. Though the games won't be available for months, Nintendo is making four of the games available for preview play at select Best Buy locations on June 12 and June 15. There, customers can play demos of the just announced Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze.
Read on for a look at the games getting their public play debut this week.
This picture has such amazing depth of field, we can't even see the person! Instagram user davie8thebaby captured (and punily captioned) this perfect Summer image.
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
