Up In The Air, Mae Jemison

October 17, 1956 astronaut and physician Mae Jemison was born. Jemison became the first African American woman in space on board the space shuttle Endeavor in September 1992. Although discouraged by teachers, Jemison majored in engineering at Stanford University and obtained her medical degree from Cornell. Inspired by Sally Ride and Star Trek’s Lieutenant Uhuru, Jemison was accepted into the space shuttle program in 1987, in the first class selected after the Challenger explosion. She went  on to found the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence which hosts science camps for students ages 12- 16.