MOMENTS IN SPACE HISTORY
WINTER 2023: 29
KENNETH REIGHTLER, a Navy captain,
piloted the first shuttle flight for scientific studies of the Earth
on Sept. 12, 1991. He was also the pilot of the first joint mission
with Russia on Feb. 3, 1994. After serving as an astronaut, he
was in management at Lockheed Martin, becoming president of
its space operations company. Now a distinguished professor at
the U.S. Naval Academy, he has appeared in the films To Be an
Astronaut and Barney in Outer Space.
“ For me, as an engineer and a pilot, it was an
unbelievable experience to now be conducting
world-class science in a range of disciplines with the
potential to benefit so many people back on Earth,
such as experiments designed to help produce
vaccines used to eradicate deadly diseases,
to produce synthetic hormones, or to develop
countermeasures for the effects of aging.” — From a NASA report on the space shuttle
MAE JEMISON, an engineer and physician,
became the first African American woman to fly in space on
the shuttle Endeavour Spacelab on Sept. 12, 1992. She served
as a science mission specialist in a cooperative mission
between the United States and Japan, which included
44 experiments in life science and materials processing.
She served in the Peace Corps prior to joining NASA and
taught at Dartmouth College after she left NASA in 1993.
She started a consulting company to market advanced
technologies. She is an advocate for worldwide health needs
and active in many nonprofits. She appeared in a 1993
episode of TV’s sci-fi show, Star Trek.
“ I was in training from when I was born
until I became an astronaut, because as
an astronaut you use all the skills you
learn in life. ” — From multiple sources
Kenneth Reightler is known for his work in space communications.
As mission specialist in 1992, Mae Jemison works at an experiment rack
inside the Spacelab module installed in Endeavour’s cargo bay.
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