(Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATED 19:55 PT – Saturday, February 20, 2021
NASA has launched the SS space shuttle Katherine Johnson, which was named after the woman mathematician featured in the movie “Hidden Figures”. On Saturday, the spacecraft’s supply spacecraft launched an orbit into Virginia on the 59th anniversary of the historic launch of astronaut John Glenn.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 26: NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (C) and director Ezra Edelman (R) and producer Caroline Waterlow (L). (Photo by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
SS Katherine Johnson contained about 8,000 kilograms of supplies for the International Space Station. The rocket was launched just 100 miles from NASA’s Langley Research Center, Johnson’s office.
Johnson’s expertise in mathematics contributed to the success of Glenn’s launch on February 20, 1962, when he became the first American to orbit planet Earth. The trajectory of the rocket was calculated primarily by computers, but Glenn asked Johnson to manually verify the orbital calculations.
The launch also took place close to the one-year anniversary of Johnson’s death. He was 101 years old. Johnson’s math also helped NASA send astronauts back and forth to the moon.
“Her job was to get a Monroe or Freedom computer,” said Johnson’s daughter, Joylette Goble. “And make the big equations that could take a page.”
The rocket is expected to arrive on Monday at the International Space Station and marks the second delivery that the International Space Station received this week. According to reports, a Russian capsule was picked up last week with apples and oranges among other supplies.