Mae C. Jemison

On 12 September 1992, Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first black woman to travel into outer space. Raised in Chicago and educated at Stanford and Cornell, Jemison earned a medical degree and became a physician in 1981. She practiced medicine in Los Angeles and served in the Peace Corps in Africa before being approved for astronaut training in 1987. She spent the next six years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), flying into space on mission STS-47 aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1992. After leaving NASA in 1993 she founded the Jemison Group, a research and consulting firm, and became active in several educational programs. She also wrote a memoir for young readers, Find Where the Wind Goes (2001).

Extra credit: In 1993 Dr. Jemison made a guest appearance on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94, starring LeVar Burton).