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In 1962 John Glenn asked for NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson to check the electronic computer's orbit calculations by hand before his flight. If she said the numbers were good, he said, he was ready to go. He became the first American to orbit Earth.

Langley Research Center, 1962

SpaceBiographyScience

The story behind the card

Johnson worked from 1953 at the Langley research centre in Virginia, first for NASA's predecessor, NACA, and then for NASA. She began among the 'human computers', mostly women who did calculations by hand, in the segregated West Area Computing unit for Black mathematicians. She calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard's 1961 flight, checked Glenn's orbit and later worked on Apollo 11's path to the Moon. When Apollo 13 was crippled in 1970, her work on backup procedures and charts helped the crew return safely. She retired in 1986, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and became widely known through the 2016 book and film Hidden Figures. She died in 2020, aged 101.

Türkçe oku
John Glenn 1962'deki uçuşundan önce, elektronik bilgisayarın yaptığı yörünge hesaplarını NASA matematikçisi Katherine Johnson'ın elle kontrol etmesini istedi. Johnson rakamların doğru olduğunu söylerse uçmaya hazır olduğunu belirtti. Glenn, Dünya'nın çevresinde dolanan ilk Amerikalı oldu.
Langley Araştırma Merkezi, 1962

Johnson 1953'ten itibaren Virginia'daki Langley araştırma merkezinde, önce NASA'nın öncülü NACA'da, sonra NASA'da çalıştı. İşe, hesapları elle yapan ve çoğu kadınlardan oluşan “insan bilgisayarlar” arasında, siyahi matematikçilerin ayrı tutulduğu West Area Computing biriminde başladı. Alan Shepard'ın 1961'deki uçuşunun rotasını hesapladı, Glenn'in yörüngesini doğruladı, ardından Apollo 11'in Ay yolculuğu üzerinde çalıştı. 1970'te Apollo 13 arızalanınca hazırladığı yedek prosedürler ve çizelgeler mürettebatın sağ salim dönmesine yardım etti. 1986'da emekli oldu, 2015'te Başkanlık Özgürlük Madalyası'nı aldı; 2016'da yayımlanan Gizli Sayılar kitabı ve filmiyle geniş kitlelerce tanındı. 2020'de 101 yaşında öldü.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Katherine Johnson
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