Joan Higginbotham
Joan Elizabrth Higginbotham born August 3, 1964 in Chicago. She is the third African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison and Stephanie Wilson. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1987, and a master\'s in management science (1992) and in space systems (1996) both from the Florida Institute of Technology. Higginbotham began her career in 1987, two weeks after getting her Bachelor of Science degree, at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, as a Payload Electrical Engineer in the Electrical and Telecommunications Systems Division. Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Higginbotham reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Higginbotham logged over 308 hours in space during her mission with the crew of STS-116 where her primary task was to operate the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Higginbotham took a scarf for the Houston Dynamo on board with her during her mission. Higginbotham was originally assigned to the crew of STS-126 targeted for launch in September 2008. On November 21, 2007, NASA announced a change in the crew manifest, due to Higginbotham\'s decision to leave NASA to take a job in the private sector. Donald Pettit replaced Higginbotham for STS-126.
Spaceflight:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 STS-116 Discovery MS 10.12. - 22.12.2006 12d 20h 44m
Total 12d 20h 44m
