All Articles (1)NewsFeb 24, 2020Katherine Johnson (1918–2020), NASA's “Hidden Figures” heroKatherine Johnson was a mathematician who calculated orbital mechanics for the first crewed spaceflights for NASA. The story of her struggles as one of the African American women working as computers at NASA in the 1960s was made famous in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” which starred Taraji P. Henson as Johnson. Johnson’s calculations of the trajectory and launch window for Alan Shepard’s historic 1961 spaceflight were crucial to the success of the mission. She later helped calculate the trajectory for Apollo 11’s 1969 Moon landing, and she worked on the Space Shuttle program and on plans for a mission to Mars.Showing 1 - 1 of 1 ResultsBrowse articles by tagPlanning ResourcesSympathy AdviceHonoringGriefOffer Sympathy and SupportHelp with Grief and LossHonoring a Life