A physician, engineer, dancer and explorer with no limits on what she could be
Cover photo: NASA, public domain
When Dr. Mae C. Jemison orbited Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992, she made history. She was the first Black woman in space. She was also a physician, a chemical engineer and a dancer, and she believed science and art belong together.
Who was the first Black woman in space? Dr. Mae C. Jemison, who flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. NASA had selected her in 1987 from more than 2,000 applicants. In orbit she ran experiments on weightlessness, motion sickness and bone cells, and carried a photo of Bessie Coleman.
Key facts
- Born: October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. Raised in Chicago.
- Education: chemical engineering and African and Afro-American studies at Stanford, then an M.D. from Cornell Medical School.
- Before NASA: Peace Corps medical officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
- The flight: Space Shuttle Endeavour, September 1992.
- After NASA: founded the Jemison Group and the Dorothy Jemison Foundation, and in 2012 won a $500,000 DARPA grant to lead the 100 Year Starship project.
The Making of an Astronaut
Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. Her family moved to Chicago when she was three, and she grew up fascinated by the stars above and the dance studios nearby. At Stanford she studied African and Afro-American studies alongside chemical engineering, because she refused to choose between her passions.
At Cornell Medical School she kept dancing and choreographing while earning her M.D. She speaks Russian, Japanese and Swahili, and she served as a Peace Corps medical officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Mae Jemison was never content with a single definition of herself.
190 Hours Among the Stars
Photo: NASA, public domain
When NASA selected her in 1987, from more than 2,000 applicants, Jemison became the first Black woman in NASA's astronaut program. On that historic flight in September 1992 she ran experiments on weightlessness, motion sickness and bone cells.
Photo: NASA, public domain
She also carried pieces of home: an Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater poster, a West African statuette, and a photo of Bessie Coleman, a thread back to the women who came before her.
Looking back on the flight, Jemison has said she felt she belonged anywhere in the universe, as much as any star or planet.
Life After NASA
Jemison left NASA in 1993 to encourage young people, especially young women and people of color, to go into STEM. She founded the Jemison Group, focused on technology and sustainable solutions, and created the Dorothy Jemison Foundation, named for her mother, which runs international science camps.
In 2012 she won a $500,000 DARPA grant to lead the 100 Year Starship project, an effort to make human interstellar travel possible within 100 years.
And yes, she became the first real astronaut to appear on Star Trek. Of course she did.
What Mae Teaches Us
Photo: NASA, public domain
We don't have to choose. We can be scientists and artists, physicians and dancers.
The world loves to put people, especially Black women, in boxes. Mae Jemison flew right out of hers. Read about the pilot whose photo she carried into orbit, Bessie Coleman, and the explorer who reached the top of the world, Matthew Henson.
Ready to see the world from a new angle? Discover Dr. Mae C. Jemison and other Black history pioneers, then explore our luxury travel experiences, designed for Black professionals who refuse to accept limits.
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