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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