Jan Davis has been surrounded by aviation and space her entire life. Born at Patrick Air Force Base and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, aka “Rocket City U.S.A.,” Jan followed up her biomedical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology with a mechanical engineering degree from Auburn University and a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. During her career breaking the glass ceiling for women in engineering and space, Jan worked for Texaco and NASA before being selected from a pool of thousands of applicants as an astronaut in 1987.
Ms. Davis flew on three groundbreaking Space Shuttle missions and continued her NASA career in the Senior Executive Service. After she retired from NASA, Jan served as an industry executive, consultant, and speaker. Jan also devotes many hours to her non-profit organization, AstraFemina, encouraging girls to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math careers. Jan has logged more than 700 hours in space and authored a memoir called AIR BORN: TWO GENERATIONS IN FLIGHT.
