Mother-Daughter Duo Made History as the First Caribbean Women to Go to Space & Other Black People Who Made Space History
Nov 21, 2023 02:00PM ● By Boitumelo Masihleho
Black people have played key roles in the assembly of the International Space Station, NASA, and today utilize the orbiting lab by performing numerous spacewalks and robotic operations and conducting research as expedition crewmembers.
Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, a student at Scotland's University of Aberdeen took off from the Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert in August this year Virgin Galactic’sVSS Unity. Schahaff and Mayers made their historic journey after winning a competition in November 2021. Schahaff, born and raised in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda won two tickets for the flight.
She was part of a fundraising competition organized by Virgin Galactic and Space for Humanity, a nonprofit with the goal of making space more accessible. Schahaff gave the second ticket to her 18-year-old daughter Anastasia Mayers, who’s studying philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom. They are joined on the journey by British Olympian, Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, two pilots, and the Virgin Galactic’s astronaut trainer. This was Virgin Galactic's second commercial flight into space.
Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician and “human computer” for NASA. She was the first Black person to supervise staff at West Area Computers. Vaughan spent 28 years in this position, teaching herself and the other women about machine computers and programming languages. Dorothy Vaughn led the way for Black women to be involved with NASA’s missions. Vaughan began working for the Langley Research Center, NASA’s oldest flight center, in 1943 as a mathematician and programmer. Most of her work was based on calculating flight paths and computer programming. It was within Langley that Vaughan was assigned to the West Area Computers unit, and she became acting head in 1949. Throughout her career, she worked to promote STEM education, teaching other women all about computer programming and empowering women to pursue their passion for science and technology.
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Guion ‘Guy’ Stewart Bluford Jr. is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut. In this capacity, he became the first African American to go to space. While assigned to NASA, he remained a USAF officer rising to the rank of colonel. In total, Bluford spent 28 days, 16 hours, and 33 minutes in space. During this time, he conducted dozens of tests and experiments, including researching the physiological effects of space flight and collecting data on Earth’s aurora. He also helped deploy the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite and operate the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System.
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When the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off on its second mission in 1992, it carried the first African-American woman into space. But Mae Jemison is more than an astronaut—she’s also a physician, a Peace Corps volunteer, a teacher, an engineer, and founder of a technology company and a nonprofit. Jemison became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s space training program in June 1987. Five years later, she again made history when she became the first African-American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. In total, she completed over 190 hours in space. Another first was she was the first former NASA astronaut to appear on a Star Trek episode.
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She's an experienced multimedia journalist who is committed to writing balanced, informative and interesting stories on a number of topics. Boitumelo has her own YouTube channel where she shares her love for affordable beauty and lifestyle content.
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