It will be 34 years this year since U.S. astronaut Mae C. Jemison realized a dream and became the first Black woman to travel to space.

Jemison, 65, a physician, flew into space aboard the Endeavour on September 12, 1992, becoming the first African American woman to float around Earth for eight breath-taking days.

Jemison, of Decatur, Alabama, was the first Black woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program in June 1987.

The youngest child of carpenter, Charlie Jemison, and elementary school teacher, Dorothy, was a quick learner, who loved the sciences. She spent most of her time in the school library reading about science and astronomy.

She flew into space with six other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS47, and conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew and herself.

Jemison spent more than 190 hours in space before returning to Earth on September 20. Following her historic flight, she noted that society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the opportunity.

During her time at Morgan Park High School, she became convinced she wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. When she graduated in 1973 as a consistent honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the university in 1977. Upon graduation, she entered Cornell University Medical College and, during her years there, found time to study in Cuba and Kenya, and working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand.

After Jemison obtained her M.D. in 1981, she interned at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center and later worked as a general practitioner. For the next two and a half years, she was the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia where she also taught and did medical research.

Following her return to the U.S., Jemison made a career change and decided to follow a dream she had nurtured for a long time: she applied for admission to NASA’s astronaut training program. The Challenger disaster of January 1986 delayed the selection process, but when she reapplied a year later, Jemison was one of the 15 candidates chosen from a field of about 2,000.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received a number of accolades, including several honorary doctorates, the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, the Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992 and a Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993. She was also named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990. In 1992, the Mae C. Jemison Academy, an alternative public school in Detroit, Michigan, was named after her.

After leaving the astronaut corps in March 1993, Jemison accepted a teaching fellowship at Dartmouth. and established the Jemison Group, a company that seeks to research, develop and market advanced technologies.