Chicago, IL. ---- Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham will make her first trip into outer space on December 7, 2006 as part of NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration program. This mission is special for the state of Illinois because Higginbotham is a native Chicagoan.

Higginbotham is a graduate of Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Chicago, in 1982; received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, in 1987, a Masters of Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1992, and a Masters in Space Systems from Florida Institute of Technology in 1996.

“We should all be both happy and proud that Joan Higginbotham, an African American woman from Chicago is going into space for her first time,” said U.S. Representative Congressman Bobby L. Rush. “Not only is she a great role model for African Americans and women, but for all Americans. She will be helping to bring us one step closer to fulfilling the Vision for Space Exploration program. This courageous woman embodies the spirit of boldly going where very few people have gone before.”