Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison
Mae Carol Jemisonis an American physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After medical school and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1985 until 1987, when she was selected by NASA to join the astronaut corps. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to found a company researching the application of technology to daily life...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth17 October 1956
CityDecatur, AL
CountryUnited States of America
I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute that would be difficult to do if I stayed. I thought I could have a stronger voice as an advocate for space exploration. So I ended up starting my own technology consulting company.
I think science fiction helps us think about possibilities, to speculate - it helps us look at our society from a different perspective. It lets us look at our mores, using science as the backdrop, as the game changer.
Some people say they feel very small when they think about space. I felt more expansive, very connected to the universe.
Sometimes people ask me how difficult the astronaut program was, but being in Sierra Leone, being responsible for the health of more than 200 people, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at age 26 - that prepared me to take on a lot of different challenges.
Science provides an understanding of a universal experience. Arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience.
I went to school at night in L.A. to brush up on my engineering while I applied to the astronaut program. I really did not know if I would get in. It was the year after the Challenger accident in 1987.
As an astronaut, you have a very defined set of tasks to do. Those tasks may require you to work 60, 70 or 80 hours a week.
Science provides an understanding of a universal experience, and arts provides a universal understanding of a personal experience.
The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.
Some of the most fun people I know are scientists.
My parents were comfortable with me exploring areas that they were not proficient in. Some parents just aren't comfortable with that.
I always knew I'd go to space.
I wanted to be a professional dancer for a period of time, and I did a lot of dancing and choreography and got paid for it.
When God made the color purple, God was just showing off.