Sally Ride EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) is a NASA educational outreach program started in 1996. The program was initiated by JoBea Way Holt, an Earth scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was initially named KidSat. It allowed students to direct a digital camera aboard a series of space shuttle flights to take photographs of specific places on Earth. In 1998, KidSat was co-opted Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space and renamed EarthKAM. Dr. Ride directed the installation of camera equipment on the International Space Station (ISS), where it became a permanent fixture independent of shuttle flights