Mae Jemison:The astronaut plotting a journey to other stars

貴州貴陽(yáng)市清華中學(xué) 張明江

梅·杰米森是第一位進(jìn)入太空的黑人女航天員，也是一位富有傳奇色彩的偉大女性。在她的職業(yè)生涯中，她曾經(jīng)從事過(guò)工程師、醫(yī)生、科學(xué)大使等多種職業(yè)。如今，她又有新的努力方向，作為“百年星艦”計(jì)劃的領(lǐng)頭人，她努力推動(dòng)星際旅行，使之在下一個(gè)世紀(jì)成為可能。

Best known as the first black woman to go into space，Mae Jemison has done much more in her remarkable career as an engineer，doctor and science ambassador．Now，she is leading the 100 Year Starship project，an effort to drive forward the capability for interstellar（星際的）travel within the next century．

Jemison grew up in Chicago in the 1960s．She always had a keen interest in science，but also wanted to be a professional dancer．She enrolled（入學(xué)）at Stanford University in California at the age of 16 and graduated in chemical engineering，then faced a difficult choice to study medicine or become a dancer． “My mother said you can always dance if you're a doctor but you can't necessarily doctor if you're a dancer，”she said in an interview on StarTalk Radio．

After gaining her medical degree，she worked as a general practitioner（普通醫(yī)師），then joined the Peace Corps as a medical officer and worked in Sierra Leone and Liberia．In 1987，she applied for NASA's astronaut programme and was one of 15 candidates selected from 2，000 applicants．

Jemison got to space in 1992，on the 50th space shuttle flight，and orbited the Earth 126 times．“I was really excited when I joined the astronaut programme because when I was a little girl，I figured by the time I was old enough to be an astronaut，I would be hanging out at least on Mars，”she said on StarTalk Radio．

She believes the lack of progress is not down to engineering limitations，but a lack of public commitment to space exploration.“That's why we have to bring so many people in and include them in things.People didn't see why it made a difference，”she said．

With her current project，she is determined to change that by including people with a broader range of backgrounds and skills，and showing that pushing the frontiers in space can get benefits for life on Earth.The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence，which she established in honor of her mother，was awarded a grant from the US government agency DARPA to pursue the radical leaps in our capabilities needed to achieve interstellar flight.

“The challenges relate not just to technology，but to human health，psychology，sustainability，economics and a host of other disciplines.A motto of the project is ‘space isn't just for rocket scientists and billionaires’，”she says．

背 景 知 識(shí)

梅·杰米森于1956年出生于亞拉巴馬州，在芝加哥長(zhǎng)大，隨后學(xué)習(xí)舞蹈，但她對(duì)科學(xué)很著迷。1977年，杰米森畢業(yè)于斯坦福大學(xué)，獲得化學(xué)工程學(xué)位，4年后獲康奈爾醫(yī)學(xué)院醫(yī)學(xué)學(xué)位。但她并沒(méi)有長(zhǎng)時(shí)間從事醫(yī)療工作，而是報(bào)名參軍，后來(lái)被NASA宇航員培訓(xùn)計(jì)劃選中。1992年9月12日，杰米森成為“奮進(jìn)”號(hào)航天飛機(jī)成員中第一位進(jìn)入太空的黑人女性。