Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Break Silence After Returning to Earth
Sally Ride’s most intimate mission was a private one.
Nearly 13 years after the ground-breaking NASA astronaut’s death, her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy reflected on their joint decision to reveal their 27-year romance to the world.
“Ten days before she died, I asked her how I should be to the public,” the 73-year-old told People in an interview published June 15. “I was holding sort of a public celebration of her life, and then a national tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. And it was like, ‘So who am I?’”
Though many of their “friends and family knew” of their decades-long relationship, Tam still wanted to disclose their connection with earnest respect.
“She told me, ‘You decide what you want to say,’” the children’s science writer continued, “‘how open you want to be about our relationship.’”
