Finding Her Space

Astronaut Mae Jemison Made History at Nasa. Now She's Pushing the Boundaries of Space Travel

- Shalayne Pulia

As a little girl growing up in the ’60s on the South Side of Chicago, back when NASA didn’t allow women—let alone women of color—to be astronauts, Mae Jemison set her sights on the stars. To get there she earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from Stanford University (where she also took courses in African and African-American studies) and then received a degree in medicine from Cornell University. In 1992 she achieved her dream, becoming the first woman of color in the world to go to space.

But, Dr. Jemison says, her time back on earth has been the most rewarding. “It’s about what you do with your place at the table once you come back down,” she says. “For me, it’s making sure others are included.” Two years after her mission she launched an international science camp for kids called The Earth We Share. Now she leads 100 Year Starship, or 100YSS, a nonprofit organization that aspires to send humans beyond our solar system within the next 100 years.