For this week’s Wednesday’s Women in STEM Series, we highlight a woman who shows girls that you don’t have to chose science OR dance, but can pursue both at the same time. Mae Jemison was the first African- American woman to travel in space on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1992. She loved dance so much that she brought a poster from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater along with her on the flight!
“Many people do not see a connection between science and dance, but I consider them both to be expressions of the boundless creativity that people have to share with one another.”
Growing up, Jemison loved both science and dance. She danced and choreographed throughout college at Stanford while studying to become a chemical engineer. She remembers that majoring in engineering as a black woman was difficult and some professors dismissed her and her abilities. After college, she attended medical school at Cornell Medical College while also taking dance lessons at the Alvin Ailey Dance School. Inspired by the astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space in 1983, she applied to NASA’s astronaut program as one of few black women. She was accepted into the program in 1987 and began her training at the Kennedy Space Center in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. She flew her first and only mission in space on the Endeavor in September 1992. While on board the Endeavor, Jemison conducted many experiments including studying how tadpoles develop in zero-gravity conditions.
Mae Jemison found a way to pursue a careering in engineering, medicine, and space travel while not giving up on her passion for dance. Her determination and perseverance as a female minority helped her become the first African-American woman in space.
“Growing up…I was just like every other kid. I loved space, stars and dinosaurs. I always knew I wanted to explore. At the time of the Apollo airing, everybody was thrilled about space, but I remember being irritated that there were no women astronauts. People tried to explain that to me, and I did not buy it.”