![]() ![]() She worked on and published several papers with engineers that formed the core of the Space Task Group, the NACA’s (later becoming NASA in 1958) first official foray into space travel. The 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik changed history-and her life. Katherine and her husband moved to Virginia to pursue the opportunity, where Katherine spent the next four years analyzing data from flight tests until her husband died of cancer in December 1956. It wasn’t until 1952 that she heard about open positions at the all-black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) Langley laboratory, headed by fellow West Virginian Dorothy Vaughan. At the end of the first session, however, she decided to leave school to start a family with her first husband, James Goble. Katherine was one of the three black students handpicked to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools. She left her teaching job and enrolled in the graduate math program in 1939. At 18, she enrolled in the historically black West Virginia State College, where she graduated with highest honors in 1937 and took a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia. Her brilliance with numbers shone early on and vaulted her ahead several grades in school, and by 13, she was attending high school. You may have heard about their story from the 2016 film Hidden Figures. These African American women computers played a vital role in 1962, when they helped send the first American astronaut into orbit, John Glenn. This week we are shining light on Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three women who played a vital role in advancing NASA’s missions. The longtime couple made their home in Hampton, Virginia.This year for Women’s History Month, we are highlighting different women each week who, although you may have not heard of previously, have contributed greatly to society. He was then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He joined the 786th field artillery in the Army reserve in 1956 where he was promoted to Captain.Īfter his promotion to major, he returned to active duty after being called on a red alert during the Berlin crisis. He was commissioned in 1951 as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and served during the Korean War. Lieutenant Colonel James Johnson, served in the US Navy during World war II. Johnson was best known as Jim, was a captain and lieutenant in the United States Army. The two remained married for six decades. In 1959, she married Jim Johnson who died in 2019. Goble passed away in 1956 from a brain tumor. From her first marriage to James Goble in 1939, she had three daughters: Joylette, Katherine, and Constance. Mrs Johnson was preceded in death by her second husband, James A. ![]() She also co-authored one of the first textbooks on space while while working in NASA’s Flight Dynamics Branch at the Langley Research Center. She was best-known though for work that greatly contributed to the first American orbital spaceflight, piloted by John Glenn. During her 33-years at NASA, she did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s 1961 mission Freedom 7, which was America’s first human spaceflight. Johnson began working at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ in 1953 at the Langley laboratory in Virginia. At the age of 18, Johnson graduated summa *** laude with degrees in both mathematics and French. She was born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918. Her achievements were critical to the success of spaceflights and also became the subject of an award-winning film, Hidden Figures tells the story of female African-American ‘computers’ at NASA.Īs a female African American in the 60’s she shattered stereotypes in the process. Katherine’s historic trajectory of the ‘human computer’ played a key role in the Apollo 11 moon landing. James’ wife who was regarded as one of the pioneers of the space age -has died at age 101. ![]()
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