WEBVTT - The First Black Woman in Space--Mae Jemison!

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<v Speaker 1>But for now it is time for the way Black

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<v Speaker 1>History fact. And today's way Black History fact comes from

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<v Speaker 1>Women's History dot Org. We're gonna be talking about the

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<v Speaker 1>first Black woman in space. Stick around, You're gonna love this.

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<v Speaker 1>Born in nineteen fifty six, May Jemison received degrees in

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<v Speaker 1>chemical engineering and African American studies and went on to

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<v Speaker 1>become a medical doctor and officer in the Peace Corps.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen eighty three, after watching Sally Ride, Jamison decided

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<v Speaker 1>to apply to the astronaut program at NASA. On September

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<v Speaker 1>twelf nineteen ninety two, Jemison went into orbit aboard the

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<v Speaker 1>Space Shuttle Endeavor as the first African American woman in space.

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<v Speaker 1>Jemison left NASA in ninety three, continuing to work for

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<v Speaker 1>the benefit of others as an educator, entrepreneur, and author.

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<v Speaker 1>May Carrol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama, on October seventeenth,

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty six. She spent her first three and a

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<v Speaker 1>half years in the small Alabama town. Her mother, unhappy

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<v Speaker 1>with job opportunities in the South, joined the Great Migration

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<v Speaker 1>and moved to Chicago, Illinois. Her parents valued education. Charlie

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<v Speaker 1>Jemison a maintenance supervisor, and Dorothy Jemison, a teacher, took

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<v Speaker 1>their children to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in

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<v Speaker 1>the Yield Museum of Natural History to visit and learn.

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<v Speaker 1>As soon as she learned to read, May checked out

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<v Speaker 1>science books from the library, reading about evolution, dinosaurs, stars,

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<v Speaker 1>and planets. Once Jimison graduated high school, she left Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>to attend Stanford University in California. She served as the

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<v Speaker 1>president of the Black Student Union. A the next step

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<v Speaker 1>in her well I did two, and so did you,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we like that. The next step in her

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<v Speaker 1>educational journey would lead her to Cornell Medical School. While there,

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<v Speaker 1>she traveled to Cuba and led a study for the

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<v Speaker 1>American Medical Student Association. Jemison also became president of the

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<v Speaker 1>Cornell chapter of the Student National Medical Association and helped

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<v Speaker 1>coordinate regional health fairs. She also worked as a at

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<v Speaker 1>a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. Jemison graduated from Cornell

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty one with a doctorate in medicine. After

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<v Speaker 1>her graduation from medical school, she interned at the Los

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<v Speaker 1>Angeles County Medical Center and later practiced general medicine on

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<v Speaker 1>June eighteen, nineteen eighty three, Sally Ryde became the first

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<v Speaker 1>American women in space. This heroic event paired with Jemison's

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<v Speaker 1>childhood fascination with space and inspired her to apply to

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<v Speaker 1>the astronaut program at NASA in nineteen eighty five. However,

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<v Speaker 1>due to the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty six, the program was paused. Jimmison reapplied and

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<v Speaker 1>was accepted in nineteen eighty seven. She was one of

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen people chosen for the program out of two thousand applications.

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<v Speaker 1>She was selected at NASA Astronaut Group twelve. She received

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<v Speaker 1>her first mission on the STS forty seven crew as

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<v Speaker 1>a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor. On September second,

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<v Speaker 1>ninety two, Jimmison and six other astronauts rocketed into space

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<v Speaker 1>for their mission. With this stressful launch made Jemison became

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<v Speaker 1>the first African American woman in space. While in orbit,

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<v Speaker 1>Jemminson conducted experiments that took advantage of the microgravity environment,

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<v Speaker 1>where objects appeared to be weightless. The mission, known as

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<v Speaker 1>space Lab Jay, conducted over forty four different experiments. According

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<v Speaker 1>to NASA quote Material Science Investigations covered such fields as biotechnology,

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<v Speaker 1>electronic materials, fluid dynamics and transport phenomena, glasses and sore,

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<v Speaker 1>metals and alloys, and acceleration measurements. Life sciences included experiments

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<v Speaker 1>on human health, cell separation and biology, developmental biology, animal

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<v Speaker 1>and human physiology and behavior, space radiation, and biological rhythms.

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<v Speaker 1>Test subjects included the crew Japanese coyfish, captured animal plant cells,

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<v Speaker 1>chicken embryos, fruit flies, fungi and plant seeds, and frogs

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<v Speaker 1>and frog eggs. The Endeavorment Crew made one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>twenty seven orbits around the Earth safely and returned to

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<v Speaker 1>the Kentuck Kennedy Sorry Kennedy Space Center in Florida on

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<v Speaker 1>September twentieth, nineteen ninety two. And her book Jemison remembers strange,

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<v Speaker 1>But I always knew I'd be here, looking down and

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<v Speaker 1>all around me, seeing all the Earth, the moon, the stars.

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<v Speaker 1>I just felt I belonged right there, in fact any

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<v Speaker 1>place in the entire universe. And so we wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>take a moment to shout her out, because that's a

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<v Speaker 1>little ebony excellence women's history, and of course you're way

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<v Speaker 1>black history fact. She's checking a lot of boxes this month,

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<v Speaker 1>and yes, definitely when I needed