Joan Higginbotham Retraces Inspiring Journey to SpaceAnnie Keough Send September 20, 2024
Former astronaut and local entrepreneur to lead educational experience during upcoming 'Space Explorers' exhibit
A still from Space Explorers: THE INFINITE. (Courtesy of Felix & Paul Studios)Joan Higginbotham didn’t want to be an astronaut.
Despite her childhood affinity for math and science and her later prowess in aerospace engineering, the now-retired astronaut had no interest in space exploration at an early age.
Higginbotham credits the people throughout her journey who believed in her and pushed her to go further than she thought herself capable with helping her to make history as the third Black woman to ever go to space. (...)
After sticking with INROADS through her four years in high school, the program set Higginbotham up with interviews for potential internships. Two days after graduating high school, she started an internship with what was then known as Zenith Radio Corporation.
She spent her first summer with the corporation then went to intern with the International Business Machines Corporation, known as IBM, for the subsequent several summers. Higginbotham thought IBM would be her employer of choice after graduating college. She likened the corporation at the time to Google or Apple today, a place where engineers thrived.
The job they offered her, however, was in technical sales, something Higginbotham did not want to pursue. While contemplating that offer in her Southern Illinois University dorm room, Higginbotham received a call from a man at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) who asked if she had any interest in coming to Florida to help launch space shuttles.
To Higginbotham, the offer was a potentially career-limiting one. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger fractured 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven members of its crew. Higginbotham received the call from the KSC in 1987, one year after the tragedy.
“The Challenger gave me pause when I was considering employment with NASA because I didn’t know how [much] longer they would be viable,” she said.
She flew down to Florida for an interview, though still skeptical of the agency at that point. While there, she saw the vast space shuttles and giant launch pads, which led to her decision to take a job there. She committed to five years with NASA, telling herself she would reconsider which path to take from there. (...)
https://qcnerve.com/joan-higginbotham-space-explorers/8:08 AM · Aug 3, 2023
3 août
Joyeux anniversaire (59) à Joan E. Higginbotham🎂🎂🎂
(1 vol : STS-116 en 2006 soit 12 jours 20 heures 44 minutes dans l'espace)
https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1686982226972413952
Wątek: JEM Higginbotham - 03.08.1964 (Przeczytany 972 razy)