Jemison excels as astronaunt, professor
By Marcus Coe | August 24, 1998Most people wouldn't describe their college application process as simply as Mae Jemison described applying to become an astronaut: "I always wanted to go into space so I applied to NASA and was accepted." Jemison is a part-time professor at Dartmouth who is teaching a course entitled "Teaching Technology and Sustainable Development" this summer. What about the other part of her time, you might ask? Well, for starters there is her experience with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration where she "worked as a person that got the space shuttle ready to launch at Kennedy Space center for awhile, worked as one of the folks that helped to verify the software that runs the shuttle and helped design experiments for shuttle flights" and finally became the first black woman in Space on September 12, 1992. While in space she investigated semiconductor crystals, how to prevent de-conditioning of the human cardiovascular system in space and intravenous fluid therapy in space. Jemison's experiences before the six years she worked for NASA would be a lifetime full of experience for many others. After entering Stanford University at 16 she graduated with majors in Chemical Engineering and African Afro-American Studies.