Mae Jemison

Mae Carol Jemison Podcast Script

Mae Carol Jemison, the first African American female ever to go into space, started on her adventure with a dream. An Honors student with an interest in science and astronomy kept moving on until her life-long dream came true. Preparation from her childhood has perfectly set her up for the adventure of a lifetime.

Jemison was born October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama to Charlie, and Dorothy Jemison. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois when she was three for better educational opportunities. While growing up, Jemison read many books about astronomy, and science fiction because it was fascinating to her. In Chicago while attending Morgan Park High School Mae decided that she wanted to go after a career in biomedical engineering. She graduated high school in 1973 and then went to Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship. Jemison graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Immediately after graduation at Stanford, she entered Cornell University Medical College to work toward a medical degree. Somehow while Mae was going to college she found time to visit and study in Cuba, Kenya, and a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. After years of work, she finally obtained her medical degree in 1981. Jemison then became the Peace Corps officer for Sierra Leone, and Liberia where she taught and did medical research.

Mae re-entered the US from Africa in 1985 and remembered her life-long dream. She applied for admission for NASA’s astronaut training program. The applicant selection process was delayed by the Challenger disaster of January 1986. Completely non-discouraged, Mae re-applied again a year later. On June 7^th 1987 she was one of fifteen candidates chosen from about 2,000 other applicants. She had become the only female African American to ever be accepted into the program. September 12^th 1922 she flew into space in the Endeavour with six fellow astronauts. They spent eight days in outer-space and conducted research experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew and herself. They all spent a little over 190 hours in space, and landed back on earth September 20^th. Not only was she the first African American female ever to be granted a spot in the astronaut training program, but she had been the first to ever go into space.

As anyone might guess, there were quite a few new things waiting for Mae Jemison when she returned to earth. She received several awards including the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992, and the Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993. She was also named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the year in 1990. In 1922 a public school in Detroit, Michigan was named “The Mae C. Jemison Academy” after her. Mae left the astronaut corps in March of 1933 and accepted a teaching opportunity as a professor at Dartmouth University. Jemison also established the Jemison Group which researches, develops, and markets advanced technologies.

After all of her years spent in colleges, and universities, Mae Jemison completed her lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut. Not only did she become an astronaut, she was the first African American female to ever be accepted into the NASA training program and then into space. She is a role model to several people in numerous countries and remains active in the space exploration programs. Jemison has changed the world.

Works Cited

Mae Carol Jemison. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:46, Feb 05, 2013,

            from

http://www.biography.com/people/mae-c-jemison-9542378.

"MAE C. JEMISON (M.D.) NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)." NASA. N.p., Mar. 1933. Web. 5 Feb.

            2013.

<http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html>.

Jemison, Mae C. "Dr.Mae Jemison." Super Scientists. N.p., 2006. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

<http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/jemison.html>.