Thursday, June 20, 2024, 5 – 9 p.m.

In honor of Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, Sally’s Night is a nationwide celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM. Through a partnership with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, our Sally’s Night will feature a talk by astronaut scholar Samantha Stoltz called “Paving Our Path: A Journey Through Life and Space for Women in STEM” at 7 p.m. In addition, we’ve planned a fun cosmic event full of family activities, including a pop-up planetarium and freeze-dried candies.

As part of Third Thursday, this event is free.

About Sally Ride

Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Dr. Sally Kristen Ride lived her life with extraordinary energy, passion, curiosity, and joy. In addition to being the first American woman to fly in space, she was also the youngest American to do so when she lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on the Challenger STS-7 on June 18, 1983, as part of a five-member crew. Later, she founded Sally Ride Science, to encourage young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and technology. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2012 at the age of 61.

About the Speaker

Samantha Stoltz received the prestigious Order of the Pegasus award in 2024 from the University of Central Florida, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. A hard-working young professional, she is passionate about learning, interested in a wide variety of STEM topics, and intent on pursuing a research-oriented career with the sole goal of helping people lead better and healthier lives. During her time at UCF, she worked in the Materials Science and Engineering lab. She is set to leave the world a better place than she found it.