Liu Yang (astronaut)
Liu was selected for the crew of Shenzhou 9, the first manned mission to the Chinese space station Tiangong 1, along with Jing Haipeng, the first repeat Chinese space traveller, and Liu Wang. Liu became the first female Chinese astronaut to go into space. The mission was launched on June 16, 2012, 49 years to the day after the first female space traveller, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched. During this manned space mission, Liu performed experiments in space medicine.
Post–civil rights era in African-American history
The 1992 Los Angeles riots erupted after the officers accused of beating Rodney King were acquitted. In 1992 Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle "Endeavour". Carol Moseley Braun (D-California) became the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate on November 3, 1992.