This was critical as she trained to serve as mission pilot. ( Inspiration4 Photos / Flickr)ĭuring training, Proctor struggled to overcome self-doubt: “I learned to be patient with myself in managing my imposter syndrome-the fear of not being good enough, not being accepted, saying the wrong thing.” Proctor at the helm of a Citation CJ3 jet en route to training events for the Inspiration4 crew at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. In the months before launch, Proctor endured intensive training with her crewmates-mission funder Jared Isaacman, physician assistant and pediatric cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, and Air Force veteran and engineer Christopher Sembroski. “Knowing I was now in a position to inspire millions of people I’ve never met through my story and this experience, I wanted to pay that back to someone who inspires me.” “That conversation meant everything to me,” Proctor told Ms. “You are making history,” Obama said to Proctor and her smiling crewmates. The day before launch, Proctor received an unforgettable call: Former First Lady Michelle Obama rang to acknowledge her achievement and wish the crew well on their mission. “To have her, the first Black female astronaut, tell me she was proud of my accomplishment was amazing.” “I received a really lovely note from Mae Jemison congratulating me on the Inspiration4mission ,” Proctor said. event on climate change in December 2018. Mae Jemison, the first Black female astronaut, speaks at a U.N. In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to travel to space, followed by Joan Higginbotham and Stephanie Wilson, who flew on NASA shuttle missions thereafter.ĭr. #First black female fighter pilot licenseProctor obtained her pilot’s license at age 36 and has since served as a major in the Civil Air Patrol as the aerospace education officer for its Arizona wing.įrom Mae Jemison to Sian Proctor: Representation Matters In 2013, she served as an analog astronaut-individuals who work in a simulated space environment on Earth-for the first NASA-funded Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) mission, investigating food strategies for long-duration spaceflight and future missions to Mars. Disappointed but undeterred, Proctor spent 21 years as a professor teaching geology, sustainability and planetary science at a community college in Phoenix, Arizona. While ultimately unsuccessful, Proctor was a finalist among the 47 applicants selected from 3,500 submissions. In 2009, in her late 30s, as her career in science education flourished, a friend convinced Proctor to apply for NASA’s astronaut program. Though she pursued a different life path, she always nurtured her lifelong passion for space exploration. Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old geoscientist, community college professor and artist, became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft and the fourth Black American woman to go to space.īorn in Guam, where her father worked at the tracking station during NASA’s Apollo missions, Proctor dreamed of being a fighter pilot. Three days later-after circumnavigating Earth 47 times at the unfathomable speed of 17,500 miles per hour-the Crew Dragon capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s Space Coast, ushering in a new era of human spaceflight.įlying at the record-breaking altitude of 367 miles, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope, the Inspiration4 mission was also a giant leap for womankind: Dr. On September 15, SpaceX made history, launching the first all-civilian mission into orbit. Sian Proctor, the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft (Inspiration4 Photos / Flickr) Sian Proctor-a 51-year-old geoscientist, community college professor and artist-became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft and the fourth Black American woman to go to space.ĭr.
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