Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison, born in 1956, American astronaut, who became the first African American woman to travel in space. Born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, Jemison moved to Chicago with her family when she was three years old. She received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University in 1977 and graduated from Cornell University's medical school in 1981. Jemison served as Area Peace Corps Medical Officer for Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa from 1983 to 1985.

Jemison joined the space program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1987. In 1992 she embarked on a mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour to study the effects of zero gravity on people and animals, becoming the first African American woman in space. In 1993 Jemison resigned from NASA and established the Jemison Group, a company that researches, develops, and markets advanced technologies.