Mae C. Jemison has reached the stars in everything she has done. On September 12, 1992, her dreams became a reality, and she became the first African American woman to travel to space.
She was born October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama to an elementary school teacher and a maintenance supervisor. At 3 years old her family moved to Chicago so she could have better education opportunities. Growing up in the Chicago public school system, she excelled in math and science classes. She had the support from her family and friends however the school staff discouraged her from pursuing a career in science. Many of them doubted her intellectual abilities.
Disregarding the statements, she obtained several degrees including a bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Stanford and a doctorate from Cornell to practice general medicine. She joined the Peace Corps serving as a medical officer for two years in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
In 1985 when she returned from Africa, she witnessed Sally Ride become the first American woman in space during that time, and Jemison decided to take the big leap of pursuing her lifelong dream.
Growing up, Jemison loved ‘Star Trek’ not only for entertainment purposes but for the motivational aspect as well. Lt. Uhura in particular – the only African character on the show – was a symbol of motivation for her and others. In an interview with CNN Jemison said, “they had this crew that was composed of people from all around the world and they were working together to learn more about the universe… So that helped to fuel my whole idea that I could be involved in space exploration as well as in the sciences.”
In 1987, Jemison applied and was 1 of 15 accepted out of 2,000 applicants. She trained with NASA and completed several projects at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In 1989 she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a mission specialist She and six other astronauts flew into orbit on a space shuttle named the ‘Endeavour’ on mission STS-47. They were in space for approximately 8 days, and ultimately returned to Earth on September 20th, 1992.
Jemison left NASA in 1993 and started The Jemison Group, a company that encourages sciences, technology, and overall social changes, and also started teaching at Dartmouth College. Currently, Mae C. Jemison is leading the 100-year starship project through DARPA. The program is trying to make human space travel beyond our solar system possible within the next 100 years.
Mae C. Jemison’s courage of stepping into a domain of uncertainty is something beyond astonishing. She not only accomplished the unbelievable but paved the pathway for the young dreamers wanting to pursue a career in STEM. Because of Jemison, and several others’ bravery, there have been many other black astronauts that reached the stars just like they did.
