Dr. Mae Jemison, NASA astronaut, was born in Decatur Alabama, and graduated from high school in Chicago in 1973. Jemison went on to earn a B.A from Stanford University, and a doctorate in medicine from Cornell Univeristy in 1981. Early in her career, she worked as a Medical Officer for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia, supervising health services, developing teaching personal health training, and participated in and conducted research projects. Jemison began her training with NASA in 1987, and in September 1992 joined a crew aboard the Endeavour. While in orbit, she conducted experiments on bone cell research. In joining this mission, Dr. Mae C. Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space.
Since her historic space flight, Jemison has gone on to found her own company, The Jemison Group, helped found an international science camp for teens, and is currently leading 100 Years Starship project, whose mission is to expand space travel beyond our solar system.
Sources:
"Biographical Data: Mae C. Jemison (M.D.)." National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Mar. 1993, www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html. Accessed 29 Jan. 2019.
"Dr. Mae Jemison." The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, Dorothy Jemison Foundation, 2017, jemisonfoundation.org/about/mae-jemison/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2019.
Nola Taylor, Redd. "Mae Jemison: Astronaut Biography." Space.com, 4 Oct. 2018, www.space.com/17169-mae-jemison-biography.html. Accessed 29 Jan. 2019.
Image Credit: NASA - Great Images in NASA, Public Domain.
