“July 20, 1969 - Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin become the first humans to land on the moon” (203). During World War II, the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory hired women, black and white, to act as computers and interpret data for major flight research projects. This was a big deal due to women’s past role in society which deemed them only capable of child bearing and being a good mother and wife. What made it an even bigger deal was that both African Americans and whites were working together to achieve the same goal. While these women have gone quite unnoticed, their work allowed the United States to send astronauts to the moon, along with contributing to prior successes such as breaking the sound barrier. It …show more content…
For instance, Dorothy worked the 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift, taking care of her family by day and crunching numbers at night” (66). Dorothy’s diligence and dedication to her job as a computer led to her becoming the section head of West Computing. This eventually allowed Dorothy to become more involved in computer programming conducted for projects such as the Mercury project which sent the first American into orbit. Mary Jackson was also recognized for outstanding work when her “new boss was so impressed with her work that he suggested she enroll in Langley’s engineer training program” (116). If Mary decided not to challenge herself and participate in the engineer training program, she would not have ended up making ground-breaking discoveries for NASA’s flight research division. Katherine Johnson also contributed greatly to early space discoveries because she always arrived “at the office early, went home in the late afternoon to check on her girls, and sometimes came back to work in the evening, maintaining a schedule of fourteen- or sixteen-hour days” (193). Katherine’s commitment to keeping astronauts safe and making almost all the calculations for Friendship 7 and Apollo 11’s flight paths, made her a valuable asset to NASA’s team. Overall, hard work allowed all three of these women to …show more content…
This love they shared was sometimes prioritized over friends and family. For example, “Dorothy loved staying home to take care of the new babies, but there was never a question that she would return to work as soon as possible” (65). Dorothy’s passion for her job, though a burden to her family and friends, allowed her to excel and contribute more to flight calculations. Likewise, “Mary decided to lend her trained eye and her understanding of aerodynamics to help her son, Levi, build a car to enter the Virginia Peninsula 1960 soap box derby” (153). Just like Mary used her creativity to help her son win the car derby, her strong interest in math helped her develop more ideas to make Supersonic airplanes more efficient. Lastly, “for Katherine, doing her job meant quietly sharing the joy when missions went well, as well as grieving with the others when missions failed” (191). The passion Katherine demonstrated towards NASA’s success inspired her to achieve aeronautic superiority. In addition to passion and dedication, resilience was a key factor in the women’s
Mary settled working in NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) in 1951. She worked and was the member of the west area computing unit, were at the time was called the “human computer”. She was supervised by Dorothy Vaughan who was also a comprising African American female mathematician. Both women provided data that was important for the early success of the space
Arlene Blum, Rosalind Franklin, Jane Goodall, and Margie Richard are all Women who have made significant impacts in Science and in our world, yet many of us know so little about them and who they are. After reading some of these articles and watching the video about Arlene Blum, I feel so empowered to be a Woman studying science because there is so much work to be done. Two Women who stood out to me were Arlene Blum and Margie Richard. Arlene accomplished so much in her career, despite the challenges she encountered as a result of her gender. She climbed some of the highest peaks and not only discovered the harmful effects of the chemical tris, but she helped prevent the use of tris of it in sleepwear. Margie Richard work also stood out to
In 1983 Sally Ride was the first female astronaut in American history, Sally Ride in space. Setting the base for all young girls and woman to have confidence in believing they could do anything men could even though labeled as “just girls”. Ride was one of the primary sources of woman empowerment in that time period. Sally ride was a extremely important woman in the 1980’s to the U.S, her becoming an astronaut has lead to gobs of realizations of what women can do now. Ride was the first woman to join NASA in the United States.
Minutes after the explosion, the three astronauts abandoned the main ship for the Lunar Module. The Lunar Module acted as a lifeboat for the crew (Redmond 18). Swigert tells Earth that it looks like the earth is coming towards them like a speeding train (Excerpts of Talks 10). They turned off the Command and Service Modules (Jones 3-3). "The Command Module had to be "powered down" after the accident to avoid depleting its systems and rendering it incapable of performing the reentry operation" (Mission 7).
Johnson says that her greatest accomplishment in life is staying alive. On November 24, 2015, Katherine G. Johnson was one of 17 Americans to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom (Keating and McNeice). Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, and growing up wasn’t easy for her nor her family and friends. She had to live through the struggles of segregation. She had never lived without segregation, so it was something that was “normal” for her, but it was still difficult to go through. Despite being hired at NASA, she and the other African-American females faced struggles as they were separated from everyone else. However, Johnson’s her work has proven influential and significant. With Johnson’s extreme intelligence and influencing spirit,
Did you know that when there weren't computers like there is today that can do mathematical equations in seconds there were women. They were classified as computers at Langley because they did the math that computers do today. It talks all about these women and their bravery in the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. The main women that she talks about are Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden. In the book, it talks about these women overcoming obstacles and dealing with bumps along the way. It also talks about their fight with segregation inside NACA (now known as NASA today) and outside the office. The women overcame all these obstacles with bravery. Being brave is being able to perform and
At 10 a.m. CDT, August 12, 1969, Julian Scheer, NASA's Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs, opened the televised Apollo 11 post-flight press conference in the auditorium of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. Addressing some two hundred representatives of the news media from the United States and abroad, he said: "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Manned Spacecraft Center. This is the Apollo 11 press conference. The format today will consist of a 45-minute presentation by the Apollo 11 crew, followed by questions and answers. At this time, I would like to introduce the Apollo 11 crew, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin, Jr."
Did you know that one flip of a switch almost cost the lives of three astronauts? On April 13, 1970 three astronauts were blasted into space to go on a mission to explore a section of the moon called Fra Mauro. Every thing was perfect until they were preparing to land on the moon. Faulty wiring caused an explosion in their spacecraft, which drained their oxygen and power. The three men then had to move back and forth between two different space crafts. There were many problems along the way, but they eventually made it home. Though they never completed their original mission, they did complete the mission took make it back to Earth alive. There are many reasons why this mission ended up being a success.
Female Pioneer Aviation is a topic that is often discussed focusing on the pilots themselves, specifically Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman, rather than the impact they had on the world, even today, such as the advances made in the technology of planes after the radio failed Amelia, resulting in her unknown death, the inspiration many aspiring female and even some male pilots needed at the time of revolutions- the 1920’s to the 1960’s, and the importance of gender and racial equality. As Amelia Earhart is the most well known female pioneer aviator, the focus will be on people off the beaten track such as Nancy-Bird Walton, Jackie Cochran, and others. Focusing on Amelia first, her journey and impact will be discussed, then Jackie Cochran’s
During her employment at NASA she, along with several other black women were forced to work in a separate building’s murky basement. “The coloured computers” were hidden from sight and actively oppressed in spite of their hard work and dedication. Katherine, after hours of hard work and upon the recommendation of coworkers was promoted. When given her new position she eventually continued climbing the ladder until she was given a position in briefings. She helped break down racial barriers with this newfound clout and with the assistance of
Before women became astronauts it was only a thing for men. Many women wanted to be astronauts but they were treated unfairly. The classes were called “Boy fields” and teachers and some parents recommended women not to take the classes. Women didn’t have the same opportunities as men and it was harder to get though school. Women had to take harder classes like math and science. During this, lots of women lost their determination. Women astronauts helped the future generations to see that occupations can be successfully held by women. www.windows2universe.org/kids_space/nicole.html
Katherine went on to perform calculations on the Apollo Missions, the Space Shuttle, and at age ninety-seven, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Dorothy became NASA’s first African-American Supervisor, and Mary became not only NASA’s, but America’s first female African-American Aerospatiale engineer and continued the fight of quality work for women of all colors. Three women who accomplished amazing feats for the history of women across the globe endured through the struggles of being in darkness, three women symbolized the title, Hidden
Life for women was rough in many time period but along every time line there has been a woman to raise her voice against this and prove time and time again that women matter and deserve to be treated equally. Today I will talk about the one and only Amelia Earhart. She was one of the first female pilots therefore a huge part of history. I will discuss her early life and the events that lead up to her deciding to be a pilot. Lastly I will discuss her disappearance which has been a very sought after topic for many decades.
Katherine Johnson. Most people do not just recognize it but do not even know it. People only remember or know names like Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin. What people do not know about Katherine Johnson is that the two men who we all know their names and only for what they did and what they did could never have been possible without her. Katherine was a mathematician at N.A.S.A the space agency. In a 30-year career she calculated many different flight paths that sent aircrafts into space and men on the moon.
We live in a society where men are seen as superior, people do not realize that men and women are equal and capable of the same things. Sally Ride was the first women in space, she was born on May 28, 1951. Sally Ride encouraged women to enjoy science and maths. She also wrote a book on her experience ,being the first women in space, called “Leadership and America’s Future in Space”. Ride also started the idea for NASA’s EarthKAM Project. Sally Ride started teaching at the University of California in San Diego. Research shows, as the first women in space, Sally Ride influenced women around the work to fulfill their dreams and spread the message that men and women are equal.