On September 12, 1992, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison made history as the first African American woman to travel into space during the STS-47 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Until this point, NASA had not selected a woman for spaceflight until the seventh shuttle mission in 1983. That same year, astronaut Guion Bluford became the first Black man in space. It took nine additional years for NASA to select Jemison to represent Black women in space travel.
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Jemison, a trained engineer and physician, applied to the astronaut program after serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa. During her time on STS-47, she served as a mission specialist, supervising 44 experiments for Japan and the United States in the Spacelab module, and she co-investigated a bone cell study on the mission. She spent a total of eight days in orbit, accumulating more than 190 hours in space before returning to Earth on September 20, 1992.
Following her historic spaceflight, Jemison retired from NASA in 1993 to found her own technology consulting firm, the Jemison Group. Her inspiration for space travel came from a young age, particularly influenced by the character Lt. Uhura from Star Trek. In a full-circle moment, she appeared as a guest star in the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1993, making her the first astronaut to appear in the franchise.
Mae Jemison has also been involved in significant projects, including leading the 100-Year Starship initiative, which aims to develop technology for interstellar travel. In 2017, she was featured as a minifigure in the Women of NASA Lego set. Her contributions have played a vital role in promoting diversity and inspiring future generations in the field of space exploration.