Katherine Johnson was born as Creola Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Joylette Roberta (née Lowe) and Joshua McKinley Coleman. In 2021, she was inducted posthumously into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 2019, Johnson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress. Henson as a lead character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. Melvin and a NASA Group Achievement Award. In 2016, she was presented with the Silver Snoopy Award by NASA astronaut Leland D. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. She retired in 1986.ĬNN’s Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.Katherine Johnson ( née Coleman August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. Johnson’s work was also instrumental in mapping the moon’s surface ahead of the 1969 landing and played a role in the safe return of the Apollo 13 astronauts. Her work quickly garnered attention for its accuracy, and John Glenn would famously call on her to crunch the numbers for his spacecraft’s trajectory before his orbit around Earth. She co-authored a paper on the safety of orbital landings in 1960 – the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division received credit for a report. She was tasked with performing trajectory analysis for Alan Shepherd’s 1961 mission, the first American human spaceflight. Johnson pushed her way into briefings traditionally attended only by men and secured a place in the inner circle of the American Space Program. Her career started to ramp up as the space race between the US and the Soviet Union did in the late ’50s. Johnson first began in the facility’s segregated wing for women before soon being transferred to the Flight Research Division, where she would work for several years. Johnson got her start at NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA’s predecessor, in 1953 – one of several Black researchers hired for the agency’s aeronautical lab after an executive order that prohibited racial discrimination in the defense industry. The pioneering mathematician was part of NASA’s “Computer Pool,” a group of mathematicians whose data powered the agency’s first successful space missions. Her work went largely unrecognized until the release of “Hidden Figures.” Johnson’s work made early space missions possible Katherine Johnson was an asset to our space program, and I am honored to work for a mission that expands her legacy even further.” “Fifty-nine years ago today, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth after personally asking for Katherine Johnson to verify his Mercury missions’ orbital trajectory calculations. “As a Black woman, Katherine Johnson shattered race and gender barriers to live out her dreams and become a pivotal part of this country’s young space program,” he said in a statement. That the spacecraft bears the name of Johnson, who also inspired the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” is an “honor,” said Adi Boulos, the lead NASA flight director for the mission. Katherine Johnson will be at the International Space Station until May, when it will make its fiery journey back to Earth, disposing of several thousands of trash along the way, according to a news release. It also brings advanced computing to the space station and upgrades to clean air and water systems for the crew there. The spacecraft will support experiments that are exploring treatments to restore vision to those with retinal degenerative diseases, why astronauts experience muscle weakening in microgravity and how astronauts sleep in space, among others. Katherine Johnson, famed NASA mathematician and inspiration for the film 'Hidden Figures,' is dead at 101
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