Posted on September 25, 2017

NASA Names New Space Facility For Katherine Johnson Of ‘Hidden Figures’

Bruce C.T. White, NewsOne, September 25, 2017

NASA has opened its new computer research center named for a Black woman who was the focus of the blockbuster Hollywood film “Hidden Figures.” The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility (CRF) opened Friday, NASA announced in a press release.

Johnson, 99, broke both the gender and color barrier at NASA as a mathematical whiz who helped calculate the rocket trajectory to help Alan Shepherd to become the first American to go to space.

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NASA has described Johnson as a “human computer” at a time when the machines were at a premium beginning when she first started working for the space agency in 1953. President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

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Since its release, Johnson has been on a victory lap of sorts, including celebrating her 99th birthday with a trip to the spa in August and celebrating the announcement that “Hidden Figures” would be adapted into a picture book for children.

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