Former astronaut Jemison to campaign for Obama on Monday
Source: Space Politics
The Florida campaign for President Barack Obama announced Sunday that former astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, will campaign for the president’s reelection on Florida’s Space Coast on Monday. Jemison, according to the media advisory, will tour Advanced Magnet Lab, a small business in Palm Bay, Florida, that “embodies the importance of President Obama’s space exploration policies for Florida,” in the words of the statement. After the tour, Jemison and Mark Santi, the president of Advanced Magnet Lab, will speak to the media “to discuss how President Obama’s policies ensure that Kennedy Space Center will continue to make history as America’s spaceport during the new chapter in space exploration that our nation is embarking upon.”
While Advanced Magnet Lab may embody “the importance of President Obama’s space exploration policies for Florida,” space appears to be only a small part of its overall portfolio. The company mentions that superconducting magnets offer “many attractive attributes for space exploration”, but its space-related business appears to be limited to a contract with NASA to develop a model for high-power superconducting machines and a partnership with a NASA/JSC researcher on a NIAC grant to study the use of superconducting magnets in radiation shielding systems.
Jemison, as a NASA astronaut, flew on the STS-47 shuttle mission in 1992, her sole spaceflight. Her current activities include serving as the leader of the 100 Year Starship Initiative as part of the team that won the $500,000 grant from DARPA earlier this year to help start the effort.
Read more: http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/07/01/former-astronaut-jemison-to-campaign-for-obama-on-monday/
Here's a few snippets about her from wikipedia, which has much more:
Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After her medical education and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1985 to 1987. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to form a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television several times, including as an actor in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer, and holds 9 honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities.
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Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993.[10] "I left NASA because I'm very interested in how social sciences interact with technologies," says Jemison.[20] "People always think of technology as something having silicon in it. But a pencil is technology. Any language is technology. Technology is a tool we use to accomplish a particular task and when one talks about appropriate technology in developing countries, appropriate may mean anything from fire to solar electricity."[20] Although Jemison's departure from NASA was amicable, NASA was not thrilled to see her leave.[4]
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In 1993 Jemison founded her own company, the Jemison Group that researches, markets, and develops science and technology for daily life.[10] In 1993, Jemison also appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.[21] LeVar Burton found out, from a friend that Jemison was a big Star Trek fan and asked her if she'd be interested in being on the show, and she said, "Yeah!!"[22] The result was an appearance as Lieutenant Palmer in the episode "Second Chances".[22] Jemison has the distinction of being the first real astronaut ever to appear on Star Trek.[22]
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Jemison is a Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and was a professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College from 1995 to 2002.[24]
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