MAE JEMISON MAKING HISTORY

Mae Carol Jemison made history when she became the first African-American woman to travel into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992 where she served as a mission specialist. Jemison joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1987 and later was selected to serve for the STS-47 mission, during which the Endeavour orbited Earth for nearly eight days from September 12th to 20th, 1992.

Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama on October 17, 1956. She was the youngest of three children. Her father was a maintenance supervisor for a charity organization, while her mother worked mostly as an elementary school teacher of English and Math at Ludwig van Beethoven Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. Jemison knew from a young age that she wanted to study science and more specifically, space. The show Star Trek, and more specifically the African-American actress Nichelle Nicholas’ portrayal of Lieutenant Uhura further provoked her interest in space. She enjoyed studying nature and human physiology, using her observations to learn more about science. Although her mother encouraged her curiosity and both her parents were supportive of her interest in science, she did not always see the same support from her teachers. When Jemison told her kindergarten teacher that she wanted to be a scientist when she grew up, the teacher always assumed she meant she wanted to be a nurse. Seeing a lack of female astronauts during the Apollo missions also frustrated Jemison.

After graduating from Chicago’s Morgan Park High School in 1973, Jemison entered Stanford University at the age of 16. Although she was leaving home for college at a young age, she was not fazed but rather eager and curious to explore life outside of her hometown. There were very few other African-American students in Jemison’s classes and she continued to experience discrimination from her teachers. Jemison recalled to an interview that her youthful arrogance may have helped her navigate Standard better at the young age of 16. She believed that arrogance is necessary for women and minorities to be successful in a white male-dominated society.

At Stanford, Jemison served as the head of the Black Students Union. She also choreographed a musical and dance production called Out of the Shadows. During her senior year, she struggled with the choice between going to medical school or pursuing a career as a professional dancer after graduation.

Jemison eventually chose to attend Cornell Medical School where she traveled to Cuba to conduct a study funded by the American Medical Student Association and later to Thailand, where she worked at a Cambodian refugee camp. She also worked for Flying Doctors stationed in East Africa. She later joined the staff of the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a medical officer until 1985. She was responsible for the health of Peace Corps volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She supervised their pharmacy, laboratory, and medical staff, and developed and implemented guidelines for health and safety issues. She also worked with the Centers for Disease Control helping with research for various vaccines.

Upon returning to the US after serving in the Peace Corps, Jemison settled in Los Angeles, California, where she entered into private practice and took graduate-level engineering courses. Inspired by the flights of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford in 1983, Jemison applied to the astronaut program in October 1985. After NASA postponed the selection of new candidates after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Jemison replied in 1987. Jemison’s work with NASA before her shuttle launch included launch support activities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and verification of Shuttle computer software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). On September 28, 1989, she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as Mission Specialist 4 and was also designated Science Mission Specialist, a new astronaut role being tested by NASA to focus on scientific experiments.

Jemison flew her only space mission from September 12th-20th, 1992, as one of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, on mission STS-47, a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan, as well as the 50th shuttle mission. Jemison logged 190 hours, 30 minutes, and 23 seconds in space and orbited the Earth 127 times. The crew was split into two shifts, with Jemison assigned to the Blue Shift. Throughout the eight-day mission, she began communications on her shift with the salute “Hailing frequencies open”, a quote from Star Trek. Jemison took a poster from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater along with her on the flight. She also took a West African statuette and a photo of pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman, the first African-American with an international pilot license.

STS-47 carried the Spacelab Japan module, where Jemison tested NASA’s Fluid Therapy System, a set of procedures and equipment to produce water for injection, developed by Steirmatics Corporation. She then used IV bags and a mixing method, developed by Baxter Healthcare, to use the water from the previous step to produce a saline solution in space. Jemison was also a co-investigator of two bone cell research experiments. Another experience she participated in was to induce female frogs to ovulate, fertilize the eggs, and then see how tadpoles developed in zero gravity.

Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993 to start her own company called The Jemison Group Inc., a consulting firm that considers the socio-cultural impact of technological advancements and design. She also founded the Dorothy Jemison Foundation of Excellence in honor of her mother. One of the projects of the foundation is The Earth We Share, a science camp for students aged 12-16. These camps have been held at Dartmouth, Colorado School of Mines, Choate Rosemary Hall, and other sites across the US, as well as internationally in South Africa, Tunisia, and Switzerland. The Dorothy Jemison Foundation also sponsors other events and programs, including the Shaping the World essay competition, Listening to the Future, a survey program that targets obtaining opinions from students, Earth Online, an online chatroom that allows students to safely communicate and discuss ideas on space and science, and the Reality of Leads Fantasy Gala. Jemison later wrote multiple books detailing her life of childhood, her time at Stanford, in the Peace Corps, and as an astronaut.

Jemison lived her life achieving all her hopes and dreams and continued to prove that passion by using her success to give back to those around her.