Engineer & Scientist United States
Katherine Johnson
Mathematician · NASA Langley Research Center · company profile
Hand-calculating the orbital trajectories for the first US crewed spaceflight and the Apollo 11 Moon landing
About
Born
1918
Died
2020
Nationality
United States
A NASA mathematician whose trajectory calculations were used for Alan Shepard's 1961 flight, John Glenn's 1962 orbital mission (Glenn asked that she personally verify the electronic computer's numbers before he would fly), and the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015; her story was told in the book and film Hidden Figures.
Frequently asked about Katherine Johnson
- What is Katherine Johnson known for?
- Hand-calculating the orbital trajectories for the first US crewed spaceflight and the Apollo 11 Moon landing
- What is Katherine Johnson's role at NASA Langley Research Center?
- Katherine Johnson is the Mathematician at NASA Langley Research Center.