Former space shuttle astronaut Mae Jemison brought her campaign to improve science literacy to Kalamazoo Thursday night. Jemison was the keynote speaker at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation’s annual meeting.
After leaving NASA, Jemison says she created a special science camp for young people. "And it was called the Earth We Share because, even though I'm really, really excited about space exploration and that's where a lot of my work lies, it's not going to solve our problems except as we apply them to life here on earth because most of us are going to be on this planet."
Jemison, who is a medical doctor and engineer, flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavor in 1992 as the first black woman in NASA’s astronaut corps. She says more women and minorities need to become involved in science, technology, and engineering.
Jemison says news reports give the false impression that private companies like Space-X are taking over from NASA. But she says the national space agency still leads the way in space exploration.
"I think it's great that we have private industries looking at launching on their own, but remember, private industry has always been a part of space exploration and space launches."
Jemison points out that private firms built the space shuttles and most other U-S spacecraft - under NASA leadership.
One of Jemison's more recent initiatives is the "100 Year Starship" project. It's working on developing the capability to send a spacecraft outside of our solar system within the next century.
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