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Katherine Johnson: NASA Cornerstone

Mercury and Apollo Program pioneer, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient, Silver Snoopy award winner, and overall NASA legend Katherine Johnson passed away this morning at the age of 101.

Her legacy began in 1953, when the NASA we know today was called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). She accepted a job with the NACA to be a ‘computer’; working with other women to work out mathematical equations.

Along with calculating trajectories, and launch windows, Johnson also navigated the gender and racial discrimination of the time, asserting her dominance in the field and securing her place as one of the best and brightest.

Her most famous works include Project Mercury spaceflights involving Alan Shepard, John Glenn (with Glenn asking for her by name), and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. (Credit: NASA, Vanity Fair; Annie Leibovitz)