01
Calculated Apollo 11’s trajectory and helped prepare backup navigation work.
Her earlier research on backup parameters and charts also supported Apollo 13’s safe return.
GOTDONE ARCHIVE · 1918-2020
4 public itemsKatherine Johnson
Research mathematician
PHOTO: NASA / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain ↗Calculated and verified the flight paths that helped take American astronauts into orbit and to the Moon.
What Katherine got done.
Every item links to its source.SOURCENASA ↗
02
Personally verified the computer calculations for John Glenn’s orbital flight.
Glenn asked for Johnson to check the electronic computers’ numbers before Friendship 7 launched.
03
Calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 mission.
Her work helped determine the path for the first American human spaceflight.
04
Coauthored a landmark orbital-flight research report.
It was the first time a woman in her division received credit as an author of a research report.