In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. The release of "Hidden Figures" made Johnson one of the most celebrated black women in space science and a hero for those calling for action against sexism and racism in science and engineering. Henson, Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer as Johnson and her colleagues Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan. She and her colleagues became famous with the publication of " Hidden Figures" (William Morrow and Co., 2016) by Margot Lee Shetterly and the release of the blockbuster movie of the same name, which starred Taraji P. And there will always, always be mathematics. "There will always be science, engineering and technology. "Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away," she said. Johnson spent the following years speaking to students about her extraordinary career, encouraging them to pursue STEM education. (Image credit: NASA) (opens in new tab) Johnson's legacy Katherine Johnson, pictured here at NASA's Langley Research Center, where she worked as a computer and mathematician from 1953 to 1986. She later helped to develop the space shuttle program and Earth resources satellite, and she co-authored 26 research reports before retiring in 1986. She also proved invaluable on the Apollo 13 mission, providing backup procedures that helped ensure the crew's safe return after their craft malfunctioned. The next challenge was to send humans to the moon, and Johnson's calculations helped sync the Apollo 11 lunar lander with the moon-orbiting command and service module to get the astronauts back to Earth. "If she says they're good, then I'm ready to go," Glenn said. Before his Friendship 7 mission, astronaut John Glenn requested that Johnson personally recheck the calculations by hand. By this time, NASA had begun using electronic computers to perform these tasks, but the machines could be a little temperamental. She also confirmed the trajectory to send the first American into orbit around the Earth. Johnson was tasked with calculating the trajectory for Alan Shepard's historic flight, during which he became the first American to reach space. Subsequent orbital missions were more complicated, with more variables involving the position and rotation of the Earth, so Johnson used a celestial training device to perform her calculations. "You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off," Johnson said. So when NASA wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, she was not deterred. For NASA's 1961 Mercury mission, she knew that the trajectory would be a parabola, a type of symmetrical curve. Johnson's passion was geometry, which was useful for calculating the trajectories of spacecraft. In 1958, NACA became NASA, and the Space Race began. Johnson died on February 24, 2020.Sending astronauts into space and to the moon Johnson also worked on the space shuttle program. Johnson was also part of the team that calculated where and when the rocket would be launched that would send the first three men to the Moon. He asked to have Johnson double check the computer’s calculations. However, before he left the ground, he wanted to make sure the electronic computer had planned the flight correctly. In 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. She authored or coauthored 26 research reports during her career. It was the first time a woman in her division received credit as an author of a research report. The year before she had coauthored a paper with an engineer. She calculated the flight path for the spacecraft that put the first U.S astronaut in space in 1961. That changed when NACA became NASA in 1958.Īt NASA Johnson was a member of the Space Task Group. They were forced to use separate bathrooms and dining facilities. The West Computers were segregated from white workers. They studied data from tests and provided mathematical computations that were essential to the success of the U.S. The West Computers, as they were known, were a group of African American women. In 1953 Johnson began work at the West Area Computing unit of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
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