![]() In 2015, President Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest honor for an American civilian. Using her mathematics skills, she helped NASA send astronauts to the moon and return them safely home. Johnson continued working for NASA through the Apollo years, and into the space shuttle era before retiring in 1986. The stars were always within reach for Katherine Johnson. “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. Johnson became famous for earning Glenn’s trust in double checking the mathematical calculations from NASA’s computers. In 1962, she found her true calling in space flight when she was called upon to work on John Glenn’s orbital mission. She was a member of the Space Task Group.ĭuring the early 1960s, Johnson worked on trajectory analysis on Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 mission. In 1957, she got in on the ground floor as America turned it’s attention to space flight. She was quickly moved to a project involving flight research, analyzing flight test data and plane crashes. In 1953 she began working in Langley, Virginia at the predecessor to NASA. Her career took a sidetrack and she took time away to get married and have children. A short time later, she was handpicked to be one of three African American students to integrate that state’s graduate program at West Virginia University. Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918 and earned a PhD in Mathematics before taking a job as a teacher. ![]() NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine made the announcement Monday morning. NASA Langley pioneer Katherine Johnson talks about her life and her work at NASA, where she was known as the 'human computer.' She discusses the highlights. (WAFF) - A NASA pioneer recently featured on the big screen has passed away. ![]()
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