Katherine Johnson was 101 years old when she passed on Monday morning and she leaves behind a legacy that for years was hidden in the shadows of her counterparts at NASA. She was deemed “critical to the success of the early U.S. space programs,” by NASA’s chief historian, Bill Barry. We know and understand that she was just as vital to the generations of Black girls that followed her and she will continue to have an impact on the generations to come.
It took a while for Johnson to receive mainstream attention, however, this did not stop her from doing the work that needed to be done. Here’s a timeline of the amazing legacy she leaves behind:
- August 26, 1918: Katherine G. Johnson was born in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia
- 1928: Katherine finishes 8thgrade at age 10
- 1936: Katherine graduates college at age 18
- 1953: Katherine accepts job as a computer for NASA
- 1958: Katherine gets assigned her first man space mission
- 1962: Allen Sheppard makes the first journey to space (of course with the help of Katherine Johnson)
- 1967: Katherine wins the NASA Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft and Operations team award
- 1969: Apollo 13 makes it to the moon ( another mission calculated by Katherine)
- 1986: Katherine retires from NASA
- 2015: President Barack Obama presents Katherine with the presidential medal of freedom
- 2017: “Hidden Figures” the movie which highlights the three Black women at NASA responsible for helping to launch astronaut, John Glenn, into orbit. Those three women are Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer) , and Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monae)
- 2017: New NASA research building is named after 99 year-old Johnson
- February 24, 2020: Katherine G. Johnson dies at the age of 101
