Mae Jemison
As a doctor, engineer, NASA astronaut, Mae Jemison has always reached for the stars. In 1992, she became the first African American woman to travel in space. She has also written several books and appeared on many television programmes including an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In addition to her many awards, Jemison has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame. Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama. The youngest of three children, her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father a maintenance supervisor. A few years after her birth, Jemison and her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. In addition to her love for dance, Jemison knew she wanted to study science at a very young age. Growing up watching Apollo flights on TV, she was upset that there were no female astronauts.
Star Trek to the Rescue
Jemison was inspired by African American actress, Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the Star Trek television show. Jemison was determined to one day travel in space. In 1973, she graduated from Morgan Park High School when only 16 years old and left Chicago to attend Stanford University in California.
As one of the only African American students in her class, Jemison experienced racial discrimination in school. She later served as president of the Black Student Union and choreographed a performing arts production – Out of the Shadows – about the African American experience. She graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and African-American studies.
After graduating from Stanford University, Jemison attended Cornell Medical School. While in medical school, she travelled to Cuba to lead a study for the American Medical Student Association. She also worked at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. She graduated from Cornell with a Doctorate in Medicine in 1981. Shortly after her graduation, she became an intern at the Los Angeles County Medical Centre and went on to practice general medicine. Fluent in Russian, Japanese and Swahili, Jemison joined the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a medical officer for two years in Africa.
After working with the Peace Corps, Jemison opened a private GP However, once Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, Jemison decided to apply to the astronaut programme at NASA. She applied in 1985, but after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA took a break from accepting new people.
Chosen From Among Thousands
Jemison applied again in 1987 and was one of 15 people chosen out of more than 2,000 applications. She was selected for the NASA Astronaut Group 12, the first group chosen after the Challenger explosion. Jemison trained with NASA and worked on projects at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.
She received her first mission on September 28, 1989 when she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a Mission Specialist. On September 12, 1992 Jemison and six other astronauts soured into space on the shuttle Endeavor. This voyage made Jemison the first African American woman in space. The team made 127 orbits around the Earth and returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 1992.
Jemison left NASA in 1993 after serving as an astronaut for six years in total. She started The Jemison Group, a consulting company encouraging science, technology and social change. She also started teaching environmental studies at Dartmouth College and directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. After hearing that she was a fan of the Star Trek television show, actor LeVar Burton asked Jemison to appear in an episode. Jemison agreed and became the first real astronaut to be on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She played Lieutenant Palmer in the episode, “Second Chances.”
In 1994, Jemison created an international space camp for students 12-16 years old called The Earth We share (TEWS). She also created a non-profit organization – the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. Jemison later accepted a position as the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University in 1999.
She went on to write her first book in 2001, Find Where the Wind Goes, a children’s book about her life. Currently, Jemison is leading the 100 Year Star ship project through the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This project works toward making human space travel to another star possible within the next 100 years.
Memberships and Board Appointments
• Board member of the Kimberly-Clark Corp. Scholastic, Inc.
• Board member of Valspar Corp.
• Morehouse College,
• Texas Medical Centre,
• Texas State Product Development and Small Business Incubator,
• Greater Houston Partnership Disaster Planning and Recovery Task Force
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine
• Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame
• National Medical Association Hall of Fame
• Texas Science Hall of Fame.
• She has received multiple awards and honourary
degrees including the National Organization for Women’s Intrepid Award and the Kilby Science Award.
• World Sickle Cell Foundation from 1990 to 1992
• Advisory committee member of the American Express Geography Competition
• Honourary board member of the Center for the
Prevention of Childhood Malnutrition
Additional Honours and Awards
In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received a number of accolades, over and above those cited above.
This includes:
• several honorary doctorates
• 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award the Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992
• Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993
• She was also named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990
• In 1992, an alternative public school in Detroit, Michigan, the Mae C. Jemison Academy, was named after her.
