Speaker 1: But for now it is time for the way Black
Speaker 1: History fact. And today's way Black History fact comes from
Speaker 1: Women's History dot Org. We're gonna be talking about the
Speaker 1: first Black woman in space. Stick around, You're gonna love this.
Speaker 1: Born in nineteen fifty six, May Jemison received degrees in
Speaker 1: chemical engineering and African American studies and went on to
Speaker 1: become a medical doctor and officer in the Peace Corps.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty three, after watching Sally Ride, Jamison decided
Speaker 1: to apply to the astronaut program at NASA. On September
Speaker 1: twelf nineteen ninety two, Jemison went into orbit aboard the
Speaker 1: Space Shuttle Endeavor as the first African American woman in space.
Speaker 1: Jemison left NASA in ninety three, continuing to work for
Speaker 1: the benefit of others as an educator, entrepreneur, and author.
Speaker 1: May Carrol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama, on October seventeenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six. She spent her first three and a
Speaker 1: half years in the small Alabama town. Her mother, unhappy
Speaker 1: with job opportunities in the South, joined the Great Migration
Speaker 1: and moved to Chicago, Illinois. Her parents valued education. Charlie
Speaker 1: Jemison a maintenance supervisor, and Dorothy Jemison, a teacher, took
Speaker 1: their children to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in
Speaker 1: the Yield Museum of Natural History to visit and learn.
Speaker 1: As soon as she learned to read, May checked out
Speaker 1: science books from the library, reading about evolution, dinosaurs, stars,
Speaker 1: and planets. Once Jimison graduated high school, she left Chicago
Speaker 1: to attend Stanford University in California. She served as the
Speaker 1: president of the Black Student Union. A the next step
Speaker 1: in her well I did two, and so did you,
Speaker 1: and so we like that. The next step in her
Speaker 1: educational journey would lead her to Cornell Medical School. While there,
Speaker 1: she traveled to Cuba and led a study for the
Speaker 1: American Medical Student Association. Jemison also became president of the
Speaker 1: Cornell chapter of the Student National Medical Association and helped
Speaker 1: coordinate regional health fairs. She also worked as a at
Speaker 1: a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. Jemison graduated from Cornell
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one with a doctorate in medicine. After
Speaker 1: her graduation from medical school, she interned at the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles County Medical Center and later practiced general medicine on
Speaker 1: June eighteen, nineteen eighty three, Sally Ryde became the first
Speaker 1: American women in space. This heroic event paired with Jemison's
Speaker 1: childhood fascination with space and inspired her to apply to
Speaker 1: the astronaut program at NASA in nineteen eighty five. However,
Speaker 1: due to the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, the program was paused. Jimmison reapplied and
Speaker 1: was accepted in nineteen eighty seven. She was one of
Speaker 1: fifteen people chosen for the program out of two thousand applications.
Speaker 1: She was selected at NASA Astronaut Group twelve. She received
Speaker 1: her first mission on the STS forty seven crew as
Speaker 1: a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor. On September second,
Speaker 1: ninety two, Jimmison and six other astronauts rocketed into space
Speaker 1: for their mission. With this stressful launch made Jemison became
Speaker 1: the first African American woman in space. While in orbit,
Speaker 1: Jemminson conducted experiments that took advantage of the microgravity environment,
Speaker 1: where objects appeared to be weightless. The mission, known as
Speaker 1: space Lab Jay, conducted over forty four different experiments. According
Speaker 1: to NASA quote Material Science Investigations covered such fields as biotechnology,
Speaker 1: electronic materials, fluid dynamics and transport phenomena, glasses and sore,
Speaker 1: metals and alloys, and acceleration measurements. Life sciences included experiments
Speaker 1: on human health, cell separation and biology, developmental biology, animal
Speaker 1: and human physiology and behavior, space radiation, and biological rhythms.
Speaker 1: Test subjects included the crew Japanese coyfish, captured animal plant cells,
Speaker 1: chicken embryos, fruit flies, fungi and plant seeds, and frogs
Speaker 1: and frog eggs. The Endeavorment Crew made one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty seven orbits around the Earth safely and returned to
Speaker 1: the Kentuck Kennedy Sorry Kennedy Space Center in Florida on
Speaker 1: September twentieth, nineteen ninety two. And her book Jemison remembers strange,
Speaker 1: But I always knew I'd be here, looking down and
Speaker 1: all around me, seeing all the Earth, the moon, the stars.
Speaker 1: I just felt I belonged right there, in fact any
Speaker 1: place in the entire universe. And so we wanted to
Speaker 1: take a moment to shout her out, because that's a
Speaker 1: little ebony excellence women's history, and of course you're way
Speaker 1: black history fact. She's checking a lot of boxes this month,
Speaker 1: and yes, definitely when I needed