Uploaded February 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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“I wish that there had been another woman on my flight. I think it would have been a lot easier.” - Sally Ride in 1983, as told to Gloria Steinem.

Hear more outtakes from the interview @ blankonblank.org/sally-ride

This episode marks the return of our special series, The Experimenters. We’re uncovering lost interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation - people who helped make the world we live in today. And some guest animators are bringing these conversations to life.

One of those people is Sally Ride. These days, just about every space mission has women on it. It’s just not a big deal. But in 1983, it was very much a big deal - that’s the year Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

Back in 1963, Russia sent Valentina Tereshkova as the first woman to fly to outer space. But it took two more decades for the Americans to follow suit.

At the time, journalist and icon of the feminist movement Gloria Steinem had an ABC interview series, called ‘In Conversation with…” As part of that program she interviewed Sally Ride - and we found the tape in Smith College’s archive dedicated to the life and work of Steinem - The Gloria Steinem Papers, part of the Sophia Smith Collection.

Now at the time of this interview, as far as the public - and it turns out the press - were concerned, space was for clean-cut alpha males with names like Buzz. Then Sally Ride came along.

Additional support from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

More Experimenters coming soon: Frank Lloyd Wright, Temple Grandin, Carl Sagan, Dame Stephanie Shirley, Jane Goodall, Richard Feynman, and Buckminster Fuller

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More Blank on Blank episodes: blankonblank.org/pbs

Executive Producer David Gerlach
Director Danny Madden
ornana.com
Series Producer Amy Drozdowska
Assistant Producer Jessie Wright-Mendoza
Animators Danny Madden, Thomas Teraoka
Inker Hannah Elder
Compositor Josh Shaffner

MUSIC

sketch (vlad) (Jahzzar)
Part VI (Jahzzar)
Two days (Jahzzar)

Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys
youtube.com/watch?v=DzWMHIiGgWU

Nina Simone on Shock
youtube.com/watch?v=PQFhQ7_7BA4

Bill Murray on Being Obnoxious
youtube.com/watch?v=YE6MQ56_yyg

Patty Hearst on Reasonable Doubt
youtube.com/watch?v=3bsi2wZROSc

Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing
youtube.com/watch?v=SyrDfCSZJmI

Hunter S. Thompson on Outlaws
youtube.com/watch?v=P3QoKqEHS8s

BB King on The Blues
youtube.com/watch?v=-tIphqWYu_s

Elliott Smith on Freaks
youtube.com/watch?v=pAP3sYaaBv4

Robin Williams on Masks
youtube.com/watch?v=2PHGmIAv4Dc

Wayne Coyne on Living with Death
youtube.com/watch?v=OJXU7f0hI30

Maya Angelou on Con Men
youtube.com/watch?v=VybIJEA41yk

Bette Davis on The Sexes
youtube.com/watch?v=RNnTUyrxzWY

Michael Jackson on Godliness
youtube.com/watch?v=YoCa3Po7M_8

Jimi Hendrix on The Experience
youtube.com/watch?v=nK2lfs_uiwk

Meryl Streep on Beauty
youtube.com/watch?v=OG_T5dwnJuM

Philip Seymour Hoffman on Happiness
youtube.com/watch?v=Osn8rjkPyYM

David Bowie on Stardust
youtu.be/lFIDXXDsxAo

Gene Wilder on The Truth
youtube.com/watch?v=8PUW2POEjX4

John Lennon on Love
youtu.be/DmvmnYEy9NY

Johnny Cash on The Gospel
youtu.be/ALGi0tcFCcw

Heath Ledger on Role Playing
youtu.be/qDRUzbAa6lI

Tupac on Life and Death
youtube.com/watch?v=6x2FqX2YZws

Kurt Cobain on Identity
youtu.be/C1Z2BkZaOQc

Janis Joplin on Rejection
youtube.com/watch?v=VdF4b1_LQnQ

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