Retired NASA math whiz Katherine Johnson turned 101 in August 2019. Katherine and her colleagues Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson played an historic role in the space program. The women worked behind the scenes in a segregated area of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). (1)

Segregated Mathematician: Katherine Johnson

The story of the three female mathematicians came to light in the movie Hidden Figures. Katherine joined NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1953. At the time the segregated Langley, Virginia offices forced the three African American women to work in a separate area of the West Computing section. (1)

Her job at the time was analyzing data from flight tests and plane crashes. In the late 1950s, the U.S. scrambled to keep up with the Soviet Union’s aspirations for spaceflight. As a result, NACA became NASA where Katherine’s team worked on orbital challenges. (1)

NASA Firsts By Katherine Johnson

In her position, Katherine calculated data on pivotal tests including two groundbreaking historical firsts: the path of Alan Shepard’s historic 1961 flight and John Glenn’s first orbital mission. Katherine also contributed calculations for the Apollo 11 trajectory. She helped ensure the lunar lander and command module interacted properly. (1)

Apollo 13 And Katherine Johnson

During the Apollo 13 mission, she provided emergency procedures and backup charts. In 1970 the mission failed to reach the moon’s surface when an explosion rendered the command module unsafe. As a result the astronauts headed back to Earth in the lunar lander. (1)

Katherine Johnson Honored By NASA

Katherine did not retire until 1986, allowing her to contribute to the shuttle program and plans for Mars missions. Her career spanned over three decades with the agency. NASA permanently marked her contributions by renaming its Independent Verification and Validation facility in her honor as well as the Langley campus computational research facility. (1)

Katherine Johnson Medals

Katherine’s awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The three women’s contributions to the Space Race will be honored with congressional gold medals under the “Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act.” The act, signed into law by President Trump, honors Katherine Johnson and Dr. Christine Darden with the highest civilian award in the United States. (1, 2)

According to the bill, each of the women “exemplify the experiences of hundreds of women who worked as computers, mathematicians, and engineers” and whose “handmade calculations played an integral role in aircraft testing during World War II, supersonic flight research, sending the Voyager probes to explore  the solar system and the United States landing the first man on the lunar surface.” (2)

“The groundbreaking accomplishments of these four women, and all of the women who contributed to the success of NASA, helped us win the space race but remained in the dark far too long,” says Senator Kamala Harris. “I am proud our bill to honor these remarkable women has passed Congress. These pioneers remain a beacon for Black women across the country, both young and old.” (2)

It’s unfortunate that all three women didn’t live to see their contributions acknowledged. At least history now proudly shows the important role black women played in the Space Race.