by: Rachelle Baptiste

Mae C. Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 to Dorothy and Charlie Jemison. She was the youngest of three children born in Decatur, Alabama, but she was raised in Chicago. 

In 1973 she graduated from Morgan Park High School in Chicago Illinois and at the age of  sixteen, she entered Stanford University on a scholarship. Mae graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering. She then went on to Cornell Medical College where she was able to earn her Doctorate in Medicine in 1981. While in medical school, Jemison uncovered a love for Third World countries. Her love for these countries drove her to travel to Cuba, rural Kenya, and to Thailand where she spent a medical clerkship at a Cambodian Refugee Camp. In 1982, Mae completed her internship at USC in Los Angeles County. from January 1983 through March 1985, Mae worked as the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia West Africa.

In June of 1987, Jemison was selected as an astronaut candidate for NASA. Now Dr. Jemison, Mae completed a one-year training  was then  qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews. Then, on September 12, 1992 was blasted into orbit on the space shuttle Endeavor. She was the first African-American woman to go into space. Dr. Mae Jemison was NASA's first Science Mission Specialist on the STS-47 Space lab J flight. This mission was a joint US/Japan mission. On this mission, Dr. Jemison conducted experiments in life sciences and material sciences. Also on this mission, Dr. Jemison was  the co-investigator in the Bone Cell Research experiment. In 1993 Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA. She now lives in Houston, Texas with her cats Sneeze and Little Mama at the age of 45.

Dr. Mae C. Jemison completed more things in  her 45 years of living than most people achieve in a life time. She is a chemical engineer, scientist, doctor, teacher, dancer, choreographer, and astronaut. Dr. Jemison has received the National Achievement Scholarship, the CIBA Award for Student Involvement, the Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the year award, the Essence Award and many other prestigious honors. Dr. Jemison is a great role model and an overall outstanding woman scientist.

the photos in this web page can be found at http://www.harrywalker.com/, http://www.avma.org, and at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women .

For more information on Dr. Mae Jemison click on: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women or http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/persons/astronauts.