Imagine being a 13-year-old enrolled in high school and graduating college at the age of 18. A phenomenal young African American woman accomplished this which could be considered mediocre compared to her other achievements.
Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918. She was handpicked to be one of the three black students chosen to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools. Her brilliant skills in schools and at home gave her the ability to advance through her educational experiences. Her father name was Joshua Coleman and Joylette Coleman. Her father was a farmer and janitor, her mother was a teacher. In their household, education was very important and they believed in taking every opportunity …show more content…
NACA became NASA in 1958 (national Aeronautics and Space Administration). Upon leaving the Flight Ma=mechanics Branch, Ms. Johnson moved over to the Spacecraft Controls Branch where she calculated the flight trajectory. This was very important because this then lead Alan Shepard the first American to the moon. This launched in 1957 of the Soviet Satellite Sputnik changed history and Katherine’s life. She provided some of the math done in the document Notes on Space Technology, a compendium of a series of 1958 lectures given by engineers in the Flight Research Division and the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD). This became the first foray into space travel. She did trajectory analyzation for Alan Shepard’s May 1961 mission to Freedom 7, America’s first human spaceflight. She helped engineer Ted Skopinski, coauthor of ‘Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position’, report which played out the equations describing an orbital spaceflight which the landing position of that spacecraft is exact. It was the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division had receive credit as an author of a research …show more content…
They used computers to program and track the orbital equations that controlled the trajectory of the capsule in Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission. However, the astronauts were hesitant to put their lives in the hands of electronic calculating machines which often had hiccups and blackouts. As a requirement, Glenn asked the engineers to “get the girl”, Katherine Johnson, to run the numbers by hand. He said “If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go”. Glenn’s flight was a success and marked a turning point in the competition between the United Syates and the Soviet
Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918. She was handpicked to be one of the three black students chosen to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools. Her brilliant skills in schools and at home gave her the ability to advance through her educational experiences. Her father name was Joshua Coleman and Joylette Coleman. Her father was a farmer and janitor, her mother was a teacher. In their household, education was very important and they believed in taking every opportunity …show more content…
NACA became NASA in 1958 (national Aeronautics and Space Administration). Upon leaving the Flight Ma=mechanics Branch, Ms. Johnson moved over to the Spacecraft Controls Branch where she calculated the flight trajectory. This was very important because this then lead Alan Shepard the first American to the moon. This launched in 1957 of the Soviet Satellite Sputnik changed history and Katherine’s life. She provided some of the math done in the document Notes on Space Technology, a compendium of a series of 1958 lectures given by engineers in the Flight Research Division and the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD). This became the first foray into space travel. She did trajectory analyzation for Alan Shepard’s May 1961 mission to Freedom 7, America’s first human spaceflight. She helped engineer Ted Skopinski, coauthor of ‘Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position’, report which played out the equations describing an orbital spaceflight which the landing position of that spacecraft is exact. It was the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division had receive credit as an author of a research …show more content…
They used computers to program and track the orbital equations that controlled the trajectory of the capsule in Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission. However, the astronauts were hesitant to put their lives in the hands of electronic calculating machines which often had hiccups and blackouts. As a requirement, Glenn asked the engineers to “get the girl”, Katherine Johnson, to run the numbers by hand. He said “If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go”. Glenn’s flight was a success and marked a turning point in the competition between the United Syates and the Soviet