Katherine Johnson as a Child

As a little girl, Katherine Johnson was exceptionally smart. She could do math calculations in her head and could solve almost any numbers you gave her. Her father wanted the best for her education and made sure she enrolled in college. She graduated from West Virginia State College in 1937 at the age of 18. Then she became a math teacher.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson is a famous African-American woman who helped greatly with the goal of getting John Glenn into space and back down to Earth safetly. She figured out the calculations for the launch and when and where the rocket should go.

Katherine Johnson working at NASA

Johnson had gotten a job at NASA, being a "human calculator", and solving calculations for smaller things. She then got promoted to help solve the calculations for John Glenn's space launch. He was to go into space and orbit the Earth, the come back to Earth safely.

Famous Mathematician

Katherine Johnson was a really smart woman who could solve almost any set of equations you gave her. She could solve them in her head and wrote every detail down when writing it out. Since she was so smart, she graduated college at only 18 years old. She went to work at NASA solving many calculations for the space program.

The Big Project

Katherine Johnson needed to figure out the calculations to when John Glenn should go into space and what time and in what exact place the rocket should land. She sucessfully figured out the calculations and the space mission was a success.

John Glenn

John Glenn was the famous astronaut that was the first man in space. Katherine Johnson had double checked the computers calculations, and they were correct, so he was able to get into space and come back to Earth safely.

Katherine Johnson and Awards

Katherine Johnson recieved many awards for what she did for the space program. She recieved the Silver Snoopy Award and the Presidental Medal of Freedom.