RoundupReads A ‘Black HERstory’ moment featuring NASA’s Dr. Mae Jemison

A ‘Black HERstory’ moment featuring NASA’s Dr. Mae Jemison

2016-02-04
For Black History Month, “The Real” highlighted a special Black HERstory moment honoring NASA’s first female African-American astronaut, Dr. Mae Jemison. While the video showcases Jemison, it also features 10-year-old Kamryn, daughter of Johnson Space Center’s Jamian Lattin-Sims—a project manager for the Commercial Crew Medical Kit and Treadmill-2 Glenn Harness. (Kamryn is the one sporting pink and white throughout the educational TV segment.)

“It was a pretty weird feeling seeing my princess on ‘The Real,’” Lattin-Sims said. “I was overjoyed for her, yet at the same time it didn’t surprise me because she’s said—since a young age—that she wanted to be on television, and we’ve always believed her. With her and her best friend Saniya being able to honor Dr. Mae Jemison on their first Black HERstory segment was just icing on the cake for me being a part of the NASA family.”

Jemison was selected for the astronaut program in June 1987. Her technical assignments included launch support activities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; verification of shuttle computer software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory; and Science Support Group activities.

From Sept. 12-20, 1992, Jemison was the science mission specialist on STS-47 Spacelab-J. STS-47 was a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan, which included 44 Japanese and U.S. life science and materials-processing experiments. She was a co-investigator on the bone cell research experiment flown on the mission.

Jemison left NASA in March 1993, but her legacy in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) community continues to inspire youngsters and, particularly, girls to pursue STEM fields.

Kamryn and Saniya will be featured every Monday in February on “The Real” with more Black HERstory moments.


The ladies of “The Real,” with special help from 10-year-old Kamryn and 9-year-old Saniya, highlight amazing Black women who have made their mark on history.

 
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center