Jemison was in astronomy ever since she was a child. She dreamed of going to space one day. While attending UCLA, she applied for NASA. Soon after she applied, NASA had a terrible accident on January 28, 1986. "Challenger" was launched in Florida and it blew up soon after taking off. The astronauts were all killed. There would be no more astronauts going into space until the scientists figured out what had happened. Jemison became one of the 0.75% of people who were chosen for a special type of instruction at NASA a year after this accident had occurred.