First African-American Woman in Space!

Dr. Mae Jemison was the first African-American in space. She was selected for the astronaut program in June 1987 and served as the science mission specialist on STS-47 Spacelab-J. *

Cool facts about Mae Jemison:

• Jemison is a trained dancer -- she built a dance studio in her home and even brought a poster from her dance school on her space mission. But when she was debating whether to go to medical school after college or become a professional dancer her mother advised her, “You can always dance if you’re a doctor, but you can’t doctor if you’re a dancer.”
• She began college at Stanford University to study chemical engineering when she was only 16 years old.
• Jemison faced many roadblocks to her dreams of pursuing science. Once, when Jemison said she wanted to be a scientist when she grew up, her teacher asked if she meant a nurse. She later founded The Earth We Share (TEWS), an international science camp that encourages science literacy for all.
• She’s afraid of heights, but she didn’t let that stop her from going into space. She says she relied on the strength of her ego to push forward.
• She was on an episode of Star Trek! Jemison began each of her shifts in space by saying, “Hailing frequencies open,” a reference to Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. In 1993, Jemison appeared in her own episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as Lieutenant Palmer. **

Sources:
* https://www.nasa.gov/facts/Space/
** https://energy.gov/articles/five-fast-facts-about-astronaut-mae-jemison