Mae Jemison, the first Afro-descendant woman to go into space. Here is his story

Mae Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama, in the United States. Her mother Dorothy Green was an English and math teacher and her father Charlie Jemison, a maintenance supervisor. When he was 13, along with millions of other people, he witnessed the moon landing, watching the Apollo missions on TV. “As a child, growing up in southern Chicago in the 1960s, I always knew I was going to be in space “he said from the podium in Richard White’s conference room. “The Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trekan African American science fiction character, encouraged me to literally reach for the stars“.

To make her dream come true, Mae Jemison did an incredible journey. At the age of 16 he entered Stanford University, in 1977 he graduated in Chemical Engineering. In 1981 he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in medicine and volunteered in Cuba, Kenya and Thailand. After graduation, he joined the Peace Corps for two years and worked as an Area Medical Officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia, where he was responsible for managing the health system that served the Peace Corps.

While it was in West Africa, it also developed research studies on schistosomiasis, rabies and a hepatitis B vaccine. In his spare time, while attending university, he was fluent in Swahili, Japanese and Russian, took dance lessons with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She although she never became a professional dancer.

Towards space

In 1983 Guion Bluford became the first African American astronaut to travel into space and in 1985 Mae Jemison took courage and decided to apply for the NASA training program. Mae was chosen in 1987 from 2,000 candidates. Arriving at NASA, she worked in Florida with the Kennedy Space Centerat the launch of the first shuttles after the Challenger incident e on September 12, 1992 his dream came true. She set out for space and spent a whopping 190 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor. Here, on his first and only mission, STS-47 Spacelab-J, he conducted more than 40 experiments including a study on tadpoles and bone cells.

An important message

Mae, on this trip, not only left with other colleagues but took with her very significant objects for her: a photo of Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to obtain a pilot’s license, an Alvin Ailey poster of dancer Judith Jamison performing the signature dance Crya statue of Bundu of West African Women’s Society and a flag of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Confraternity, the oldest African American Women’s Brotherhood in the United States.