AIR JORDAN TRUE FLIGHT GS

My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer

In her heartwarming and empowering memoir, space pioneer Anousheh Ansari tells the story of her childhood in Iran and her family's exodus to America after the Islamic Revolution. After settling down in Texas, Anousheh built a computer technology firm from the ground up, which eventually realized a net worth of $750 million and ultimately allowed her to achieve her childhood dream of spaceflight. In her groundbreaking role as the first-ever female commercial spaceflight participant, her story became politicized and fraught with the prejudices and obstacles she had to overcome as an Iranian woman, culminating in a debate over whether she would be allowed to display both the American and Iranian flags on the sleeve of her spacesuit.

After her return to Earth, Anousheh started The Ansari Foundation, a quickly growing nonprofit which supports social entrepreneurship, and is especially committed to ensuring the freedom of women around the world and supporting female entrepreneurs. Ultimately, this evocative story shows the triumph of a woman who has become a role model to people around the globe struggling to overcome economic and cultural barriers, as well as those dreamers who look upon the stars and wish to soar among them.

Mae Carol Jemison, M.D. (born 17 October 1956) is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. She became the first Black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.

Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama, the youngest child of Charlie Jemison, a maintenance supervisor for a charity organization, and Dorothy (Green) Jemison, an elementary school teacher of English and math The family moved to Chicago, Illinois, when Jemison was 3 to take advantage of better educational opportunities there. Jemison says that as a young girl growing up in Chicago she always assumed she would get into space "I thought, by now, we'd be going into space like you were going to work She said it was easier to apply to be a shuttle astronaut, "rather than waiting around in a cornfield, waiting for ET to pick me up or something.

As a child growing up, Jemison learned to make connections to the world by studying nature "It sounds a little gross, but I was fascinated with pus," Jemison said. Once when a splinter infected her thumb as a little girl, Jemison's mother turned it into a learning experience "I ran and showed it to my mother and she was telling me it was pus. I was like, ‘'Well, what is that?' And I ended up doing this whole project, reading about pus. My mother always told me to go find out the information myself. She was very directive, in the sense of ‘'it's your responsibility,' sort of like those people who tell you to go look up a word in the dictionary when you don’t know how to spell it."[3] Jemison wouldn't let anyone dissaude her from pursuing a career in science "In kindergarten, my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I told her a scientist," Jemison says. "She said, 'Don't you mean a nurse?' Now, there's nothing wrong with being a nurse, but that's not what I wanted to be."

Jemison loved science growing up but she also loved the arts.[5] Jemison began dancing at the age of 9. "I love dancing! I took all kinds of dance — African dancing, ballet, jazz, modern — even Japanese dancing. I wanted to become a professional dancer," said Jemison During high school she auditioned for the leading role of "Maria" in West Side Story. She didn't get the part but Jemison's dancing skills did get her into the line up as a background dancer. "I had a problem with the singing but I danced and acted pretty well enough for them to choose me. I think that people sometimes limit themselves and so rob themselves of the opportunity to realise their dreams. For me, I love the sciences and I also love the arts," says Jemison. "I saw the theatre as an outlet for this passion and so I decided to pursue this dream." Later during her senior year in college, she was trying to decide whether to go to New York to medical school or become a professional dancer. Her mother told her, "You can always dance if you're a doctor, but you can't doctor if you're a dancer."

Jemsion graduated from Chicago's Morgan Park High School in 1973 and entered Stanford University at age 16. "I was naive and stubborn enough that it didn’t faze me," Jemsion said . "It’s not until recently that I realized that 16 was particularly young or that there were even any issues associated with my parents having enough confidence in me to [allow me to] go that far away from home." Jemison graduated from Stanford in 1977, receiving a B.S. in chemical engineering and fulfilling the requirements for a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies . Jemison said that majoring in engineering as a black woman was difficult because race is always an issue in the United States. "Some professors would just pretend I wasn't there. I would ask a question and a professor would act as if it was just so dumb, the dumbest question he had ever heard. Then, when a white guy would ask the same question, the professor would say, "That's a very astute observation.'"

Jemison obtained her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1981 from Cornell Medical College (now Weill Medical College of Cornell University). She interned at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and later worked as a general practitioner.During medical school Jemison traveled to Cuba, Kenya and Thailand, to provide primary medical care to people living there. During her years at Cornell Medical College, Jemison took lessons in modern dance at the Alvin Ailey school Jemison later built a dance studio in her home and has choreographed and produced several shows of modern jazz and African dance.

After completing her medical internship, Jemison joined the staff of the Peace Corps and served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer from 1983 to 1985 responsible for the health of Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Jemison's work in the Peace Corps included

The Beechcraft Bonanza is one of general aviation's great success stories. This classic airplane first flew in 1947 and is still in continuous production with a conventional tail rather than the distinctive V-tail with which it first flew. In addition to a generous acceptance within the aviation world, where it is regarded as the Cadillac of the single-engine light-plane field, the Bonanza also rated high marks in the industrial design field. In a survey of 100 leading designers, design teachers, and architects, published in Fortune magazine, April 1959, the Bonanza was rated as one of the 100 best designs of mass-produced products.

The Bonanza's fine performance encouraged a number of people to select it for record-breaking flights. Probably the best known of these is the Waikiki Beech, in which William P. "Bill" Odom set two distance records. Beech Aircraft Corporation sponsored both of these record-breaking flights to demonstrate the efficiency and dependability of its airplane.

On January 12, 1949, Odom established a record for light-plane flights from Hawaii to the continental United States. The Bonanza was the first light plane to make this flight, a great circle distance of 2,406.9 miles, though Odom actually flew 2,900 miles. Severe weather over Nevada forced Odom to abandon his ultimate goal of flying the entire continent and return to Oakland 22 hours and 6 minutes after takeoff.

In the log book of the Waikiki Beech, under the dates of March 6, 7, and 8, 1949, is the following entry: "X-country record-breaking flight: 36 hours 01 minutes, Honolulu to Teterboro, New Jersey. Signed Wm. P. Odom." This brief entry summed up the flight, which covered 4,957.24 officially accredited great circle miles (5,273 actual miles). Of this distance, 2,474 miles were over the waters of the Pacific Ocean and 2,799 were over the North American continent. The flight was completed at a total cost of less than $75 for fuel and oil. The average fuel consumption was 19.37 miles per gallon and average speed was 146.3 miles per hour.

A smooth takeoff from Hickam Field, Honolulu, began this record-making flight. It was uneventful, proceeding as planned except for two detours to avoid bad weather enroute. As he passed over Ohio, Odom changed his shirt and used his electric razor. When he stepped out of the Bonanza at Teterboro, he was clean-shaven and neatly dressed, as any young executive might be on arrival for a business conference.

Following the Honolulu-to-Teterboro flight, Odom made a national tour with the Bonanza, after which it was turned over to the National Air Museum. In 1951 the plane was returned to Beech Aircraft to be refurbished and lent to Congressman Peter F. Mack, Jr., for a worldwide goodwill flight. Leaving Springfield, Illinois, on October 7, 1951, the plane, rechristened Friendship Flame, visited forty-five major cities in thirty-five countries. On April 19, 1952, 113 days and 33,000 miles later, the plane returned to Wichita, Kansas.

The Waikiki Beech was the fourth Bonanza built: the only modifications made to the otherwise standard Model 35 were the fixtures and tubing required to install the extra fuel tanks, 126 gallons in the cabin and a 62-gallon streamlined tank on each wing tip. The Bonanza is regarded as a classic aircraft design of the post-World War II era and is easily identified by its distinctive V-tail. Though a number of other design refinements contributed to the efficiency of this airplane, the "butterfly tail" is the most distinguishing outward characteristic. This unique feature was tested during the waning years of World War II and found promising. The most important advantages of this design were the reduction in the number of parts and in weight. Control response with the V-tail is equivalent to conventional tail surfaces of 40 percent greater area.

Early in 1975 the Waikiki Beech was once again refurbished by Beech for exhibit in the new National Air and Space Museum. In recognition of its two significant record flights, the plane carries its Waikiki Beech markings on the left side of the fuselage and the Friendship Flame markings on the right.