Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison (born 1956) is an American engineer, physician and former NASA astronaut. Born in Decatur, Alabama, and raised in Chicago, she graduated from Stanford University with degrees in chemical engineering and African and African-American studies and earned her medical degree at Cornell University. From 1983 to 1985 she served as a doctor for the Peace Corps in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1987 and in September 1992 flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-47, becoming the first African-American woman to travel into space. She left NASA in 1993, founded a technology research company and later a non-profit educational foundation, through which she leads the 100 Year Starship project funded by DARPA. She has also written several books for children.