"On September 12, 1992, Dr. Mae Carol Jemison launched into space as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor, becoming the first African-American female astronaut in space."
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Guion "Guy" Bluford - First African American In Space- Aug. 30, 1983.
http://z.about.com/d/space/1/G/9/R/bluford1.jpg

Ellison Onizuka- First Asian American in space - January 24, 1985
http://www.datamanos2.com/challenger/onizuka.jpg

Kalpana Chawla- First Asian American female in space
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/portraits/chawla-thumbnail.jpg

John Herrington- First Native American in space- November 11, 2002
http://www.aaanativearts.com/images/articles/herrington-thumbnail.jpg
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Billy T. Hervey became the first minority MOCR flight controller during Apollo 4.

If a flight director for the International Space Station counts, then read the following for more on "NASA's First Black Mission-Control Flight Director":

http://collectspace.com/ubb/Forum38/HTML/000281.html
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Teacher ( not really a minority group but still a first ) Barbara Morgan.

On January 28, 1986, Christie McAuliffe boarded Space Shuttle Challenger with the other six crewmembers of STS-51-L. Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of all seven crew members. According to NASA, it is in part because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on Challenger that the accident had such a significant effect on the nation. Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive.

I still remember the moment that the explosion occurred. I was doing an internship in a law office and we had all assembled in the conference room to watch the launch. It was tremendously exciting and we were all thrilled to be watching this historic event. One of the top ten final nominees had been one of our own local teachers but she had just barely missed the top spot. She was still flown back to the NASA for space training and was there the morning of the launch.

The countdown was thrilling and we were all talking in excitement as the shuttle climbed into space. We were expecting to see it disappear into the atmosphere and the room was beginning to clear - just the interns and central supplie type workers left in the room when the explosion occurred. It took everyone by surprise and we sat there motionless and silent like we didn't really know what we were seeing. It just couldn't be real - but it was real. And there was no going back.

read the entire article about this event in history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_McAuliffe

It would be 21 years before another teacher successfully reached space. Barbara Morgan, McAuliffe's backup that day in 1986, became a professional astronaut in January 1998. Morgan flew on the space shuttle mission STS-118 aboard Endeavour (the orbiter that replaced Challenger) to the International Space Station on August 8, 2007.
Source(s):
http://www.stayathomemom.com forums on Inspirational Women

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