Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space in 1983. She was also the first known LGBTQ+ astronaut. Tune in on Instagram Live as Eric Cervini, a historian of LGBTQ+ politics and culture, and Emily Margolis, Museum curator of American women’s history, discuss Sally Ride, her LGBTQ+ identity, the efforts the Museum is taking to ensure we’re telling Sally’s whole story, and the importance of documenting and sharing queer histories. Tune in May 24 at 3 pm ET at @airandspacemuseum on Instagram.

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This program is part of AirSpace’s QueerSpace series, featuring stories and people at the intersection of aviation, space, and LGBTQ+ history and culture.

About the Speakers

Dr. Eric Cervini is an award-winning author, producer, and historian of LGBTQ+ politics. His first book, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He was a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where he received his PhD.

As an authority on 1960s gay activism, Cervini serves on the Board of Advisors of the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of LGBTQ+ history.

Cervini is the creator and executive producer of The Book of Queer, a comedic and music-filled docuseries about queer history, premiering on Discovery+ in June 2022.

Dr. Emily A. Margolis is a curator of American Women’s History at the National Air and Space Museum and the  Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. 

She works to develop collections that fully realize women’s contributions to and engagement with aviation, spaceflight, astronomy, and planetary science.

Margolis trained as a social and cultural historian of spaceflight. She holds a PhD in History of Science and Technology from Johns Hopkins University.