LeeAnne Gelletly - Mae Jemison: Doctor and Astronaut

On a beautiful Florida morning the Endeavour and her crew leave the launch pad and rocket into a clear blue sky. The powerful engines must push the Endeavour to nearly 17,000 miles per hour to reach orbit.

Source: Courtesy of NASA.

The shuttle's northern course took it along the East Coast of the United States. Two minutes after launch, the solid rocket boosters separated from the orbiter and external tank, and parachuted to the Atlantic Ocean to be retrieved for reuse. About eight minutes into the flight, after pushing the Endeavour into space, the external tank, now empty, separated from the shuttle, breaking up and burning as it reentered the Earth's atmosphere.

Jemison recalled the physical effect caused by the force of liftoff: "It takes about eight minutes to get from the Kennedy Space Center into orbit. During the last four minutes, you feel a lot of pressure across your chest. You feel like you weigh about three times what you weigh on Earth." But her emotional reaction at liftoff overwhelmed her much more. In an interview with Ebony magazine, she remembered the exhilaration she felt as the Endeavour rose with a roar toward the heavens: "I had this big smile on my face. I was so excited. This is what I had wanted to do for a very long time. It was the realization of many, many dreams of many people."

At almost 260 miles above the Earth, the Endeavour was moved into a circular orbit, with its tail pointed toward the planet. This position allowed for optimal radio communication with ground control and placed the orbiter so its equipment would generate heat out toward space. The Endeavour would be traveling in a 17,500 mile-per-hour orbit around Earth, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. Its route would reach as far north as Moscow, in Russia, and as far south as the tip of South America.

Once a spaceship establishes orbit, it is in a state of continuous "free fall" around the planet. Gravity still pulls on the spacecraft, but because it is flying away from the Earth at the same rate that gravity is trying to pull it back down, weightlessness occurs. Anything not secured inside the orbiter will float as if it has no weight. After the Endeavour established orbit, its crew members unfastened their safety restraints and set to work, floating about as they attended to their tasks.

Mission specialist Mae Jemison was still stowing away the orange suits the astronauts had worn for launch when Commander "Hoot" Gibson called her to the front of the orbiter. As she reached the flight deck, the captain pointed out that they were passing over a very familiar place to Jemison-the city of Chicago. She remembers seeing the city as a contrast of gray-colored concrete buildings set against the lush greens of the farmland surrounding it. As the shuttle sped along in its orbit, that view-her first from space-vanished within minutes.

In later interviews, Jemison described her first impressions of the sights she saw from space. In one interview with People Weekly, she described the vibrant colors visible from her perch on the Endeavour: "The earth was gorgeous. There was a blue iridescent glow about the planet that was tremendous."