Astronaut Mae Jemison

An American physician and NASA astronaut Mae Jemison (October 17, 1956- ) became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. By the time she was thirty-one Mae Jemison had received a double-major in Chemical Engineering and African-American studies from Stanford University. She studied medicine at Cornell University.

She had also made history when she was selected from a pool of 2,000 applicants and became the first Black woman selected to be an astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

While at Cornell she traveled to Thailand and Kenya to provide primary medical care services. After completing her medical internship Jemison joined the Peace Corps and worked as a staff physician in West Africa.