Decatur-born astronaut, doctor speaks about unity and space research

Apr. 25—HUNTSVILLE — Renowned astronaut and physician Dr. Mae Jemison, born in Decatur, said the study of space should be more inclusive and connect individuals of all backgrounds, and after being the first African American woman to travel to space among other achievements, she knows the value of inclusivity.

On Tuesday evening, Jemison was the keynote speaker for the seventh Village of Promise speaker series at the Von Braun Center. Village of Promise is a nonprofit organization founded to address the needs of poverty-stricken children and families.

Todd May, senior vice president of science and space business at KBR, a technology and engineering firm, introduced Jemison to the crowd of 650 after speaking of her achievements.

"Entrepreneur, engineer, physician, NASA astronaut, educator and humanitarian," May said. "I dare say there's not many of us in this room that have more than one of those. Dr. Jemison is at the forefront of integrating physical and social sciences with art and culture to solve problems and foster innovation."

Jemison was a mission specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1992, when the orbiter made its second expedition into space.

After enrolling at Stanford University at the age of 16, Jemison graduated in 1977 with a bachelor's in chemical engineering and a bachelor of arts degree in African and Afro-American studies. She then graduated from Cornell Medical School in 1981 with a medical degree. Prior to her time at NASA, she served in the Peace Corps as a medical officer in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Jemison, 67, spoke of her beginnings, being the youngest of three children, born in Decatur in 1957, and later moving with her family to Chicago.

"I was born in Decatur, Alabama, just down the road and my father worked as a roofer on Redstone Arsenal when it was being built," Jemison said. "While we left when I was 3 years old, I came back to this area because I spent a lot of time here working and training for my space flight."

After the event, Jemison said she has few memories of her time in Decatur, but sees potential in Alabama and said north Alabama has grown exponentially since she last resided here.

"The only thing I remember about Decatur is walking with my mother to take my brother and sister to school and walking next to this fishpond with lily pads along the way," Jemison said. "What I see from Decatur are tremendous possibilities and understanding this area is becoming bigger than Birmingham and all of the new building that is happening."

Remarking on the state's focus on STEM fields in public school systems, Jemison said social sciences and arts should be included as well.

"I'm happy it's happening because I did a lot of work on science education and science literacy, yet at the same time I feel like we might be missing the boat as we leave out music and the social sciences and art and dance and all those other things," Jemison said. "We need the full breadth of diversity and we need to appreciate the social sciences and the creativity involved."

In her speech, Jemison emphasized unity among humans by sharing a story of her voyage on the Endeavor.

"I remember looking out the window of my space flight and seeing this shimmer of blue light that's our atmosphere and I remember how beautiful it was," Jemison said. "I looked out at the moon and stars and I felt connected. If I'm connected with a star 1,000 light-years away, I'm connected with people on Earth. I think what's above unites us because we see the same sky and the same stars."

Jemison said after the speech that until humans understand their role in the universe, progress will be thwarted.

"We're Team Earthlings," Jemison said after the speech. "Where we are at in the world today, there's this misunderstanding about our connectedness, and until we understand that we are connected to the resources of this planet, through the Earth, climate, and through each other, we are going to have a hard time really reaching our full potential anywhere in the world. If we don't get that Golden Rule piece together, it doesn't matter."

Jemison said one of the greatest advancements in space exploration during her career with NASA was the study of interstellar travel and discussed her work with the 100 Year Starship project, an initiative by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA to implement interstellar travel to the stars within 100 years.

"I always saw my task in 2012 when I got the DARPA funding, is to get people to think interstellar might be real, that it's something that we can do," Jemison said. "So, I think that's a big jump because we're now looking at much more and I think that the world is thinking of space as something that contributes."

— wes.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.