Katherine Johnson Research Paper

Katherine Goble became the first African-American in the Space Task Group as Al Harrison, the director, needed someone to double check the numbers. However, she had to go a

One of the women that worked in NASA was Katherine Johnson. Katherine Johnson was the first black woman to graduate from college at age 18. Johnson went to West Virginia University at age 14 because women couldn’t go to school past 8th grade. Katherine Johnson attends the institute in West Virginia. But also went to another school in the summer so that she get could get a teaching job in Virginia. During her summer she learned French and Mathematics. Later Mrs. Johnson went and worked for NASA, there she was solving calculations that could

Katherine Gobles Johnson was the first African-American to join the Space Task Group at NASA. This was a prestigious group in NASA that was dedicated in winning the Space Race. Octavia Spencer accurately describes the honor and struggles associated with carrying such a title by describing what the women in the book were doing in an interview with People magazine, “They were basically treated as second-class citizens. They knew that they had more to offer, and they basically rolled up their sleeves and 1 2 3 they did the work to be a part of something greater than themselves. Their contributions to the space program, we’re still feeling the impact of it today.”

It was a chilly morning on January 28, 1986 when Lori Bockhorst went to school at Londonderry High School. On what would normally be an ordinary day in the life of the students, something exciting was about to occur. This day was a special day, because the space shuttle was expected to be launched. Though launches were still rare, Lori had seen them before, and they had always fascinated her. This time, however, was different. On the crew would be a teacher from Concord, New Hampshire; a city a few miles down from where Lori lived. The teacher, Christa McAuliffe, had won a nationwide contest over 11,000 other teachers that granted her the right to this amazing experience. She would be teaching lessons to her students from space, a feat never before achieved. (History.com Staff) After undergoing months of training, she would be the first ordinary citizen that had gone into space. Everyone was excited with the fact that normal people like them were doing the seemingly impossible. Many of the

Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson born on August 26, 1918 was a physicist and mathematician worked with digital electronic computers at NASA. She is known for her accuracy in computerized celestial navigation. At NASA, she calculated the trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back-up return paths for many early NASA missions/flights including Project Mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon, through the Space Shuttle program. Johnson even made plans for a mission to Mars. Her calculations were extremely critical to the success of these

Katherine Johnson, born on April 9, 1921, was one of the most, if not the most, intelligent student in her class. She was one of three students

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.

Born May 26, 1951, Sally Ride had a dream like many Americans. Dr. Ride received a bachelor’s degree in English and Physics, she persevered with her schooling and received her doctorate. In 1978, after receiving her Ph.d, Dr. Ride applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s astronaut program. She beat out over 1,000 other applicants for the courageous position. With patience and rigorous training, Dr. Ride finally got the chance to achieve her dream. STS-7 mission, June 18, 1983; Sally Ride was the first American woman to orbit in space. She was a mission specialist, using a robotic arm she sent out satellites into space. A year later Dr. Ride served another trip as a mission specialist. Years after working for NASA, Sally

period, the fact that this woman had such an important position at NASA was incredible.

After college she got married and had children. Her husband later became ill she began teaching to support her family. She quit her teaching job after she heard that NASA was hiring African Americans to solve math problems and began working there. She was able to do what she loved while working she studied space travel and geometry. Katherine and the other women working at

Katherine was a Mathematician, a computer scientist, an american physicist, and contributed to America's aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Katherine was the first african american woman in aerospace engineering, she crafted americas navigational track for the flight landing the first humans , Neil Armstrong and Buzz

Katherine is black. She is a woman. She is a single mother. She is, in short, many of the things that Americans living in the still-segregated Virginia of the 1960s were supposed to, to the extent they possibly could, avoid being. NASA, however, is desperate—to solve the problem it has set for itself. To beat the USSR. To inspire. To win. The agency needs someone who gets the math—indeed, as Goble’s eventual boss, Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), repeatedly tells his team at the Space Task Group, the agency needs someone who can invent the math. NASA needs, although it takes far too long to realize it, Katherine Goble.

was not a lot of freedom for women in my generation. We did what we were supposed to do. I went to school to teach because there weren’t a lot of options to pursue any other kind of fields.” She went on to explain how opportunities began to open for women. “A few years after I graduated in 1959, things began to change. I don’t think there were any kinds of political reforms yet, but women just began to complain about not having enough options. Soon, the schools began to listen, and all types of fields began to open up for women in education.” She further stated, “ I wish I would have been a few years younger, I would have liked all the changes that the 60s brought with it. I would have majored in something else...maybe law.” Do to the lack

Katherine Johnson, probably the most well-known of the three women, was born on 26 August, 1918, in White Sulfer Springs, West Virginia. As a young girl, her absolute curiosity and brilliance in maths put her ahead several grades, and by the age of thirteen, she was attending high school. When she was eighteen, she enrolled in university, and graduated as the first African American to earn a PhD in maths. A NASA website page states, “Katherine graduated with highest honors in 1937 and took a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia” (Loff). She was hired for NASA, originally called NACA, in June 1953 and was assigned a project almost immediately. In 1958, NACA became NASA, and four years later, Katherine began working on satellite calculations to prepare for the first American man into space. Katherine became well-known among other scientists, and before John Glenn took off into space, he said, “If she [Katherine] says they’re [the calculations are] good, then I’m ready to go.” Katherine retired from NASA in 1986 and was awarded with the Presidential Medal of

Sally ride was an inspirational, determined, astronaut. She is best known for being the first American woman to fly in space. She applied to be an astronaut in 1977 in Nasa’s astronaut program. It was an ad in an advertisement. It was the first time that women were invited to apply to the astronaut program. (Dunbar). The first time inviting women was a very big deal, so getting in was even bigger. So she began to apply with courage and a dream of going into space. Ride ended up beating 1,000 other people for the job in the program. Through this job, she had tons of training for robotic arms and the equipment. The training was very constant throughout her time there because of the big responsibility of going and deploying satellites through space. She was chosen to be a mission specialist and was in charge of the robotic arm. The robotic arm is the position to deploy satellites across space. She