Alan Shepard was the first American in space. John Glenn was the first American to the Earth. And Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the Moon. People know the names of these men. But for a long time, they hadn’t heard of one woman who helped make it all possible.
Katherine Johnson. That was her name.
Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918. She was a great student, and boy, did she know numbers! “I counted everything,” she once said. “I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes I washed. Anything that could be counted, I did.”
Johnson’s path to success wasn’t as easy as 1-2-3 though. She was a woman, and she was Black. At the time, that meant people didn’t treat her equally. She couldn’t get the same jobs as men. Still, Johnson didn’t give up. She started working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. That group would later become NASA!
The numbers whiz joined women who served as human computers. They did important math problems for the space agency. Johnson rose above the rest. In the 1960s, her were key for getting astronauts into space safely. Even when NASA had real computers, John Glenn still asked Johnson to check the numbers!
Years later, more people learned about Johnson’s role in the space missions. In 2015, President Barack Obama gave Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And a 2016 book called Hidden Figures told her story. Later that year, that book became a hit movie.
From stars above to movie stars — Johnson led a long and amazing life. She died in 2020 at the age of 101. Former NASA leader Jim Bridenstine shared the news of her death. He called Johnson “an American hero.” He added that Johnson “opened doors for women and people of color in the quest to explore space.”
“The NASA family will never forget Katherine Johnson’s and the we could not have reached without her,” Bridenstine said. “Her story and her grace continue to inspire the world.”
Today, two NASA buildings are named after Johnson. One is in Hampton, Virginia, where Johnson used to work. And in 2022, Johnson will join the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Through all that, her name will live on.
Updated March 29, 2022, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Ashley Morgan
