Katherine Johnson: Charting a Path to the Stars
Katherine Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918 and showed a gift for mathematics from a very young age. She graduated from college at just 18 years old and later joined the group that would become NASA, where she worked as a research mathematician.
At NASA, Katherine calculated trajectories, the curved paths that spacecraft follow through space. In 1961 her calculations helped launch Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Her work required incredible precision, because even a tiny error could send a spacecraft off course.
In 1962, astronaut John Glenn prepared to become the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7. NASA had begun using electronic computers, but Glenn did not fully trust the new machines. He asked engineers to "get the girl" to check the numbers by hand, meaning Katherine. She spent days recomputing the flight, and her answers matched the computer. Glenn flew safely.
Katherine went on to help with the Apollo missions to the Moon and the Space Shuttle program. In 2015 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and her story reached millions through the book and film "Hidden Figures." She died in 2020 at the age of 101.
