El 18 de junio de 1983, Sally Ride despegó desde el Centro Espacial Kennedy, en Florida, como especialista de misión en el transbordador Challenger. Así, se convirtió en la primera mujer de Estados Unidos en viajar al espacio. El histórico vuelo formó parte de la misión STS-7, donde Ride trabajó junto a una tripulación mixta durante seis días en órbita terrestre.

En el proceso de preparación hacia su sueño, Ride recibió de la NASA no solo el tradicional mono azul, sino también un kit de maquillaje por decisión del equipo técnico, una muestra de los estereotipos y retos que la acompañaron en su histórica misión al espacio.

La astronauta, nacida en Los Ángeles en 1951, ya había superado el exigente entrenamiento de la NASA antes de embarcarse en esta misión. El aterrizaje exitoso cerró una semana de experimentos, despliegue de satélites y maniobras fundamentales para la agencia espacial norteamericana.

Con solo 32 años, Ride logró su objetivo luego de una formación sólida en ciencias. La selección como astronauta fue resultado de la apertura de la NASA a mujeres candidatas en la promoción de 1978.

Ride integró la tripulación después de destacar entre 8.000 postulantes, de los cuales solo seis eran mujeres. La misión de Challenger implicó desplegar satélites de comunicaciones, desarrollar experimentos científicos y utilizar un novedoso satélite Shuttle Pallet, actividades en las que Ride ocupó un rol clave.

De acuerdo con BBC, antes de partir al espacio, Ride tuvo que enfrentar el escrutinio mediático y las dudas sobre las capacidades femeninas en entornos extremos.

Los periodistas le preguntaron sobre temas personales como la menstruación o la moda en lugar de sus credenciales científicas. Pese a la presión, respondió con solvencia y se enfocó en sus responsabilidades como astronauta.

Según National Geographic, la infancia de Sally Ride estuvo marcada por su curiosidad científica y el interés por experimentar con química y física. Durante su adolescencia, sobresalió como tenista nacional, pero optó finalmente por la astrofísica.

Mientras realizaba un doctorado en Stanford, Ride vio un anuncio de la NASA invitando a mujeres a formar parte de la promoción de 1978. De acuerdo con testimonios de la época, este cambio fue posible porque la NASA eliminó la exigencia de que sus aspirantes debían ser pilotos militares, profesión vetada hasta entonces para mujeres.

Aunque la cosmonauta soviética Valentina Tereshkova viajó al espacio en 1963, la presencia de mujeres en la NASA encontró obstáculos.

Según National Geographic, en los años sesenta surgió un programa privado de pruebas para mujeres astronautas, que fue cancelado en 1962 a pesar de los buenos resultados. Durante audiencias en el Congreso, algunos astronautas argumentaron que las mujeres no cumplían con las condiciones necesarias debido a las restricciones en la formación de pilotos.

El cambio legal abrió las puertas para Sally Ride y otras candidatas que superaron rigurosos procesos de selección. Durante los cinco años posteriores a su ingreso en la NASA, Ride adquirió experiencia en control de misión, supervisó el armado del brazo robótico de la Estación Espacial Internacional y evitó la exposición mediática siempre que fue posible. En 1983, su designación como parte de la tripulación STS-7 la posicionó como referente.

Durante la preparación del vuelo, la NASA recomendó que llevara suministros inusuales —como 100 tampones y un kit de maquillaje—, reflejo del desconocimiento existente sobre la vida de las mujeres en el espacio.

Ride relató, en entrevistas, que se le consultaba más por su aspecto que por su capacidad para manipular maquinaria o desplegar satélites. No obstante, completó la misión con éxito y repitió la hazaña un año después con un segundo vuelo de ocho días.

La historia de Ride continuó con una nueva etapa tras su retiro de la NASA en 1989. Se desempeñó como profesora en la Universidad de California en San Diego y luego dirigió el Instituto Espacial de esa institución.

Según informes institucionales, Sally Ride fundó Sally Ride Science, una empresa destinada a promover la participación de niñas y mujeres en áreas STEM (ciencias, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas).

Entre 1983 y 1984, Sally Ride sumó dos misiones en el espacio, las que validaron la capacidad femenina en operaciones complejas del programa espacial. Tras el accidente del Challenger en 1986, su tercer vuelo fue cancelado, pero continuó trabajando para la NASA en funciones técnicas y de asesoría.

Sally Ride falleció de cáncer de páncreas el 23 de julio de 2012, a los 61 años. En el obituario preparado por ella misma, reveló su relación de 27 años con Tam O’Shaughnessy. Analistas como Ann Friedman explican que, de haber declarado públicamente su orientación sexual durante su carrera, habría enfrentado discriminación o incluso la exclusión del programa espacial, algo que la NASA corrigió años después al establecer políticas de inclusión.

Ride recibió la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad de manera póstuma en 2013. En los últimos años, la NASA registró más de cuarenta astronautas estadounidenses mujeres, mientras que la misión Artemis planea llevar por primera vez a una mujer a la Luna.

En 2019, una muñeca Barbie homenajeó su figura, consolidando a Sally Ride como modelo para generaciones futuras.

La carrera de Sally Ride no solo quebró techos de cristal en la NASA, sino que transformó la percepción de género en el espacio y la ciencia estadounidense. Su huella define los avances actuales hacia una mayor igualdad y diversidad en la exploración espacial.

Congress has been back after the week-plus Thanksgiving Day break. And days are slipping off the calendar as lawmakers struggle to assemble a plan to address health care or defray the cost of spiking premiums.

The deadline is the end of the calendar year. But Fox is told that the insurance companies just need action by Jan. 15.

Still, that doesn’t give Congress much time to act. And, depending on the metric, the House is only scheduled to meet for nine days for the rest of 2025.

 The Senate is not as clear, but, unofficially, the Senate will only meet for nine more days as well.

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The House is scheduled to be in Tuesday through Friday. Then Dec. 15 through Dec. 19.

The Senate meets Monday. But it’s unclear if the Senate would meet Friday.

The Senate also meets Dec. 15 through at least Dec. 18. But anything beyond that is a little sketchy.

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However, this is where things get interesting.

The House originally was not scheduled to meet Dec. 19. But that date was added to the schedule a few weeks ago.

Some would interpret that added date as «code» for the possibility that the House may need to be in town the weekend of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, and perhaps beyond. There is a possibility that the House could add days to the calendar around that period because Christmas Day isn’t until that Thursday.

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So, in theory, the House has a few extra days at its disposal to address issues before Dec.25. It would be a different matter if Christmas itself fell on say a Monday or Tuesday. 

So let me fillet the meaning of this.

Developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and full-throated support from President Donald Trump — likely stymies any health care package. (Alex Brandon/AP)

House Republicans are aiming to release a health care plan in the coming days. But developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and full-throated support from President Donald Trump — likely stymies any health care package.

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Keep in mind, Republicans have talked about an alternative plan to Obamacare since 2009, but have never passed anything. So, it’s truly hard to believe they can pass anything in the next 26 days.

The Senate is expected to take votes related to competing health care plans late next week. The GOP offering is still unclear.

Senate Democrats just unveiled a three-year extension of the current Obamacare subsidies. Any bill needs 60 yeas. So expect the Democrats’ plan to die immediately.

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Frankly, it’s likely that the failure of both plans in the Senate makes everyone get serious. Often in the Senate, something must first fail until the sides get serious about a compromise and begin to hustle.

That takes us back to the calendar.

Thus, with the deadline of skyrocketing health care premiums, it’s possible that Congress races up to and/or through the holidays to pass some sort of a health care fix before the end of 2025. 

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That’s why that weekend and days between Dec. 20 and Dec. 23, which are not on the congressional calendar, could be prime targets for Congress to work to pass something.

HOUSE GOP SPLITS OVER OBAMACARE FIX AS COSTS POISED TO SPIKE FOR MILLIONS

That’s to say nothing of Congress returning after Christmas and trying to approve something before or around the New Year.

 Both bodies are technically slated to return to session Jan. 5.

And don’t forget, that the Senate passed its version of the original Obamacare plan just after dawn on Christmas Eve morning, 2009.

Discussions around rising costs for healthcare, primarily surrounding Obamacare, have divided Republicans and they contemplate whether to reform or replace the system. (By Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Also lurking in the background: spending bills to fund the government.

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 30. Nine of the 12 annual spending bills for Fiscal Year 2026 remain unfinished. The House expects to tackle a few bills before the end of the year.

But if Congress fails to address anything on health care before the end of January, the probability of another government shutdown increases exponentially.

So, I bid you «tidings of comfort and joy.»

As tensions rise between Washington and the Maduro regime, experts told Fox News Digital that Venezuela’s military may look formidable on paper but is hollowed out by years of corruption, decay and political control. While they say Venezuela cannot stop a determined U.S. strike, any broader operation would be far more complicated than the White House suggests.

Isaias Medina, an international lawyer and former Venezuelan diplomat who denounced his own government at the International Criminal Court, described Venezuela as a criminalized state dominated by narcotrafficking networks.

«Venezuela today resembles a fortress built on sand wrapped around a criminal regime,» he said, adding that any hypothetical U.S. action would be «evicting a terrorist cartel that settled next door and not invading a country.»

Medina warned that Venezuela’s dense civilian population — also victimized by the regime — demands extreme caution. «The only acceptable approach is overwhelming bias toward restraint and longer operational timelines, forgoing targets that cannot be struck cleanly.»

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He said the military’s capabilities look better on paper than reality, with equipment rusting from lack of maintenance and thousands of politically appointed generals disconnected from an estimated 100,000 lower-ranking troops who may abandon their posts under pressure.

Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, told Fox News Digital that Venezuela’s most relevant threat lies in its air-naval systems — and even those could be quickly eliminated.

«You have to break this up,» he said. «There’s an air-naval part, which is most likely what could impact our strike operations,» including fighter jets, limited naval vessels and Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.

MADURO BRANDISHES SWORD AT RALLY AS HE RAILS AGAINST ‘IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION’ AMID RISING TENSIONS WITH US

Soldiers with their faces painted march during a military parade to celebrate the 205th anniversary of Venezuela’s independence in Caracas, Venezuela July 5, 2016. (Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

But Montgomery said the U.S. could quickly neutralize them. «Reasonably speaking, in the first day or two of a campaign plan, we can eliminate the air and maritime threat to U.S. forces,» he said.

Any U.S. plan targeting cocaine production would begin with «simultaneous strikes on the airfields, the aircraft and the air defense weapon systems to ensure that they don’t respond to any U.S. attacks on other assets.»

Asked whether Venezuela could retaliate after such strikes, Montgomery replied: «Not against an air campaign. No.»

TRUMP’S STRIKE ON CARTEL VESSEL OFF VENEZUELA SENDS WARNING TO MADURO: ‘NO SANCTUARY’

Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard stand in formation as they carry out an increased security patrol along Lake Maracaibo amid rising tensions between Venezuela and U.S., in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on Oct. 26, 2025.  (Isaac Urrutia/Reuters)

Montgomery stressed that while air defenses can be eliminated quickly, a ground operation would be a far different story. «They have a small professional military… 65 to 70,000 people, many of whom probably don’t want — they didn’t join the army to fight,» he said. The country also maintains a massive militia, whose motivation would depend on loyalty to Maduro.

But geography and scale make a land operation a nightmare scenario. «Venezuela is probably twice the geographic size of California, 35 to 40 million citizens,» Montgomery said. «This would be a terrifically challenging ground campaign, especially if it turned into a counterinsurgency.»

He added bluntly: «Today, I would not do this. I do not recommend it.»

TRUMP GAVE MADURO ULTIMATUM TO FLEE VENEZUELA AS LAND OPERATIONS LOOM: REPORT

A squad of Venezuelan Air Force K8W aircraft overflies during the 2025 Venezuela industrial aviation expo at the Libertador Air Base in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela, on Nov. 29, 2025. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON’S SHADOW WAR: HOW STRIKES ON CARTELS THREATEN TO COLLAPSE MADURO’S REGIME

Montgomery does support an air campaign which he believes will be more efficient than the current naval tactics. He cited his experience commanding U.S. Navy counter-drug operations: «Every one of these 21 ships could have been pulled over by a mix of Navy and Coast Guard assets and helicopters.» But intelligence often proved unreliable.

Despite years of decay, Venezuela still possesses a large, uneven mix of military hardware. Analysts say it cannot stop a U.S. campaign but could complicate early phases.

Soldiers take part in a drill led by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to train citizens in weapons handling, after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro deployed the military across communities nationwide as part of a national outreach initiative aimed at training both enlisted citizens and residents amid rising tensions with the United States, in Yagua, Venezuela, Sept. 20, 2025. (Juan Carlos Hernandez/Reuters)

Its inventory reportedly includes 92 T-72B tanks, 123 BMP-3 infantry vehicles, Russian Msta-S artillery, Smerch and Grad rocket systems, and an estimated 6–10 flyable Su-30MK2 jets. Air defenses include the S-300VM, Buk-M2E and Pechora-2M.

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Venezuela’s deepening ties with Iran, Russia and China continue to worry U.S. officials.

Jorge Jraissati, president of the Economic Inclusion Group, said «numbers show only 20% of Venezuelans approve of this regime,» warning that for more than a decade «there has been no respect for the will of the population» as Caracas aligns with «anti-Western regimes that destabilize the region.»