For 55 years of space travel, about 550 people have visited the Earth's orbit. Mae Jamison is one of them. Over 20 years ago, Jamison became the first African-American woman aboard the shuttle Endeavor. Today she works in the human space exploration program outside the solar system.
To the question: "Do astronauts believe in the existence of life on other planets?" - the astronaut laughed.
“The reality is that there are billions of stars in our galaxy. And we know stars have planets,”said Jamison. "Therefore, the likelihood that life could exist somewhere else is just absolute for me."
Since the discovery of the closest exoplanet to the Sun, Proxima b, last month, the question is becoming more intriguing every day. According to scientists, on a planet located 4.2 light years away, there may be water in liquid form.
“It's very far away, but it's the closest planet to Earth,” Jamison said. "Which means that one day we will have the opportunity to see her."
But the closest unexplored planet is still Mars, where NASA plans to send astronauts in the next 20 years.
“From what I understand, we'll be on Mars even earlier,” May said. "When I was a little girl, I thought back then that I would visit there."
The astronaut said that people need to understand the connection between space exploration and life on Earth. She gave examples of two innovations developed by NASA that have had a huge impact on everyday life.
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“Today we take GPS systems for granted, but they were the first to go into space,” said the astronaut. "Magnetic resonance imaging, known as MRI, was first used to detect signals from probes, such as those sent to Venus."
Four weeks ago, May Jamison cut the ribbon at the opening of a new high school in Huntsville, Alabama, named after her.
Voronina Svetlana