Jemison, who is also a physician, has worked as a Peace Corps volunteer and a professor. She is the founder, president and CEO of BioSentient Corp., a medical technology company, and founder of the nonprofit Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. It was through the foundation that Jemison made the winning bid for the DARPA 100 Year Starship project to further the goal of interstellar travel.
Jemison attended Stanford University on scholarship at the age of 16. She earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering and a bachelor of arts in African and African-American studies. She earned a doctorate in medicine from Cornell University in 1981.
Following her career as an astronaut, Jemison left NASA in March 1993 to teach at Dartmouth College. She also founded the Jemison Group, which encourages a love of science in students and aims to spread advanced technology around the world.
Like other astronauts, Jemison found space travel was a profoundly life-altering experience. Seeing planet Earth from space changed her in ways she had not expected.
What stuck with her was the notion that beyond geopolitical borders we all are related as Earthlings. We all share the same sky. Human survival may depend on more people embracing that realization.
"We need to help people change their perspectives. It is not just about space. It is about how space exploration can help to make us better on this planet and as humans," Jemison told TechNewsWorld.

Reaching for the Stars

In the years since Jemison left NASA, she has remained heavily involved in promoting spaceflight and space-related activities. She teamed up with Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) scientist Jill Tarter and Star Trek: The Next Generation actor LeVar Burton to create a new campaign called "Look Up."
Look Up is a movement that encourages people to connect with the sky above us. Participants collaborate on weaving a global tapestry of Skyfies -- sky selfies. The Skyfie app, available on Apple's App Store and on Google Play, gives users an opportunity to capture their sky-looking images and personal feelings when they see the sky from a different perspective.


With this week's fanfare surrounding the 50 Year Anniversary of the Apollo Lunar Landing, Look Up expanded to focus on "Look Up Apollo 11." Skyfie app users' images, audio and video, and text about the sky are displayed on the Sky Tapestry Globe.