Mae Jemison; Physician, College professor and Astronaut
By July of 1992 Ms Jemison was spending lots of time preparing for her shuttle flight. Her career was truly awesome.
Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After her medical education and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1985 to 1987, when she was selected by NASA to join the astronaut corps. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to form a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television several times, including as an actress in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer, and holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities.
Jemison's inspiration for joining NASA was African-American actress Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. Jemison was turned down on her first application to NASA, but in 1987 Jemison was also accepted on her second application. "I got a call saying 'Are you still interested?' and I said 'Yeah'," says Jemison. (Nichelle Nichols wanted to quit Star Trek after the first season but credits Martin Luther King with talking her out it.) Jemison says she was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.; to her King's dream was not an elusive fantasy but a call to action. "Too often people paint him like Santa -- smiley and inoffensive," says Jemison.
"But when I think of Martin Luther King, I think of attitude, audacity, and bravery." Jemison thinks the civil rights movement was all about breaking down the barriers to human potential. "The best way to make dreams come true is to wake up."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison
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