Katherine Johnson: Spaceflight Pioneer

March 2020  :  Francine Jackson

When we think of pioneers, often Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, or their contemporaries come to mind, but one group of people from the last century can be counted in this group: the “Hidden Figures,” the women computers who were instrumental in the early days of both NACA and its subsequent NASA. The last major woman to do so died February 24th, 2020, at age 101: Katherine Johnson.

Played by Taraji P. Henson, in the recent movie Hidden Figures, Johnson, and two of her coworkers, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, were immortalized as essential for their incredible minds, able to perform calculations necessary for the early Space Race, using only chalk, slide rules, and mechanical calculators. Their work was considered outstanding, despite not conforming to the “standards” of the day: black women in a sea of white males, who had to overcome such indignities as being totally ignored, and forced to use only one bathroom in the entire complex.

It was the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and subsequent movie, that brought these women to life, mainly introducing them to this generation, although Johnson, who lived the longest, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, a year earlier, by then President Barack Obama. She, and her peers, despite their incredible mathematical prowess, were originally classified as “subprofessionals,” barely above secretaries and custodians, but it was Johnson’s call by astronaut John Glenn, who wouldn’t launch without her checking the calculations done on rudimentary computers, that helped bring her amazing ability to the forefront.

Johnson originally worked as a schoolteacher before being hired at Hampton, Virginia’s Langley Research Center, one of over 100 “computers,” about 1/3 black. Originally, she was hired to help determine data from plane crashes; however, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 changed everything, resulting her being a major force in the mathematics of space flight.