Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she served as an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

 

After graduating from medical school and briefly working as a general practitioner, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1983 until 1985. In 1987, she joined NASA's astronaut corps and in1992, she went into space as a mission specialist aboard STS-47. In 1993, she resigned from NASA and founded a company researching the application of technology to daily life.