Aug. 26, 2019 marks the 101st birthday of no longer hidden figure Katherine Johnson. With slide rules and pencils, Katherine, a legendary NASA mathematician – and the other human computers who worked at the agency – helped our nation’s space program get off the ground, but it was their confidence, bravery and commitment to excellence that broke down racial and social barriers that continue to inspire to this day. To learn more about Katherine and other trailblazing ‘human computers,’ visit: https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures
Tag: Katherine Johnson
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A Sign of Progress: Honoring NASA’s Hidden Figures
Thanks to new signage, visitors to NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. will be reminded of the contributions of the “hidden figures” essential to the success of early spaceflight. The renaming honors Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were featured in Margot Lee Shetterly’s book – and the movie – Hidden Figures, as well as all women who honorably serve their country, advancing equality, and contributing to the United States space program. News release: https://go.nasa.gov/HiddenFiguresWay
On June 12, Administrator Jim Bridenstine joined U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and author Margot Lee Shetterly for the renaming of the street in front of NASA Headquarters in Washington – E Street SW – to “Hidden Figures Way.”
Learn about NASA’s hidden and modern figures: https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures
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NASA Administrator Kicks Off a Celebration of Katherine Johnson’s 100th Birthday
On Aug. 26, as part of NASA’s celebration of Katherine Johnson’s 100th birthday, agency employees received a special message from administrator Jim Bridenstine to mark the occasion. With slide rules and pencils, Katherine, a legendary NASA mathematician – and the other human computers who worked at the agency – helped our nation’s space program get off the ground, but it was their confidence, bravery and commitment to excellence that broke down racial and social barriers that continue to inspire to this day. To learn more about Katherine and other trailblazing ‘human computers,’ visit: https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures
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NASA wishes Katherine Johnson a Happy 100th Birthday
In 1962, as NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn, Katherine Johnson was called upon to hand check the computer’s orbital equations that would control the trajectory of the capsule in John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission, from blast off to splashdown.
“If she says they’re good,’” Katherine Johnson remembers the astronaut saying, “then I’m ready to go.” Glenn’s flight was a success, and marked a turning point in the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in space.
NASA wishes Katherine Johnson a very Happy 100th Birthday.
To learn more about Katherine and other trailblazing ‘human computers,’ visit: https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures
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Tracking Hurricane Maria from Space on This Week @NASA – September 22, 2017
Satellite data continues to enable weather forecasters to look inside and outside of powerful hurricanes. Imagery from NOAA’s GOES East satellite, captured Sept. 17 to Sept. 20, shows Hurricane Jose along the U.S. east coast, and Hurricane Maria, as it moved through the Leeward Islands, strengthening to a Category 5 hurricane, and making landfall in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite found rain falling inside Maria at a rate of over 6.44 inches per hour in powerful storms that reached above 9.7 miles high. Also, SpaceX Dragon Returns with Science, Katherine Johnson Research Facility Opened, Earth’s Gravity Assist to OSIRIS-REx, Hubble Spots Asteroids Orbiting Each Other, and Engineering the Future!
This video is available for download from NASA’s Image and Video Library: https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-NHQ_2017_0922_This%20Week%20@NASA.html
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NASA Invites Media to Talk with Cast of Hidden Figures
Members of the media were invited to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to participate in a news conference Dec. 12 with cast members from the 20th Century Fox motion picture Hidden Figures.
The film is based on the book of the same title, by Margot Lee Shetterly, and chronicles the lives of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson — African-American women working at NASA as “human computers,” who were critical to the success of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission in 1962.
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Langley Centennial Celebration Highlights Hidden Figures on This Week @NASA – December 2, 2016
On Dec. 1, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden helped kick off a yearlong centennial celebration for the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia with several events highlighting the work of the African American women of Langley’s West Computing Unit. These mathematicians performed critical calculations for several historic NASA space missions in the early days of America’s space program, and their story is told in the book, “Hidden Figures,” by author Margot Lee Shetterly and the upcoming 20th Century Fox movie of the same name. It was also discussed during a NASA education event at Langley featuring Bolden, the film’s director Ted Melfi, NASA’s Chief Historian Bill Barry, and Langley electro-optics engineer Julie Williams-Byrd – a modern-day NASA figure using science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM — skills to make an impact. Later that evening, a VIP social and screenings of the film took place at nearby Virginia Air & Space Center. The women featured in Hidden Figures – Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan – known as “human computers,” helped put John Glenn in orbit, and helped Neil Armstrong and other astronauts land on the moon. Also, Cassini’s Ring-Grazing Orbit around Saturn, Next Space Station Crew Previews Mission, and Russian Cargo Ship Experiences Anomaly after Launch!
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Hidden Figures at NASA Langley Research Center
NASA celebrates the lives and careers of the Langley West Computing Unit who helped America win the space race of the 1950s and 60s. The lives of these unsung heroines is captured in the book and film “Hidden Figures”.
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NASA Dedicates Facility to Mathematician, Presidential Medal Winner
NASA commemorated the many contributions of retired mathematician Katherine Johnson to America’s space program during a building dedication ceremony on May 5, at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Langley’s new Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility was formally dedicated to the venerated mathematician and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
Johnson worked at Langley from 1953 until her retirement in 1986, beginning as a research mathematician — part of a pool of women hired to perform mathematical equations and calculations by hand for engineers. She quickly distinguished herself and was permanently assigned to the branch that would later calculate the launch windows for NASA’s first Project Mercury flights.
Notable accomplishments include her computation, by hand, of the launch window and trajectory for Alan Shepard’s maiden space voyage aboard Freedom 7 in 1961, and verification, also by hand, of calculations made by the first computers for John Glenn’s history-making orbit around the Earth in 1962. She also calculated the trajectory for the historic Apollo 11 first moon landing flight in 1969.
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NASA Mathematician, Recipient of Nations Highest Civilian Honor
Katherine Johnson spent more than three decades as a mathematician at NASA and the NACA.