The Northrop Grumman space station supply ship – named SS Katherine Johnson in honor of the late mathematician whose work inspired the movie “Hidden Figures” – was launched into orbit on Saturday.
Saturday marked the 59th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic launch, in which Johnson made calculations as part of NASA’s computer reserve. Johnson, along with other black women, worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., Processing data that played an important role in multiple historic manned space missions, The Associated Press reported.
“Mrs. Johnson was selected for her handwritten calculations that helped launch the first Americans into space, as well as for her successes in breaking glass ceiling after glass ceiling as a black woman,” he said. say Northrop Grumman vice president Frank DeMauro, according to the AP.
DeMauro also suggested that viewers of the release watch the movie “Hidden Figures” for more information on Johnson’s contributions after Saturday’s release.
Johnson died in February last year at the age of 101.
The four-ton capsule, which Northrop Grumman launched for NASA, will deliver food to astronauts and about 120,000 round worms for a muscle experiment and computer equipment for data processing, the AP reported.
Saturday’s launch marked Northrop Grumman’s 15th station supply operation for NASA.