(Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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UPDATED at 7:55 PM PT – Saturday, February 20, 2021
NASA launched the SS Katherine Johnson space shuttle, which is named after the female mathematician from the movie “Hidden Figures.” On Saturday, the space station’s supply ship shot into orbit in Virginia on the 59th anniversary of astronaut John Glenn’s historic launch.
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)
The SS Katherine Johnson held approximately 8,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station. The rocket was launched just 100 miles from NASA’s Langley Research Center, the office where Johnson worked.
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 missile’s trajectory was mostly computed by computers, but Glenn asked Johnson to check the orbital calculations by hand.
The launch also took place just before the one-year anniversary of Johnson’s death. She was 101 years old. Johnson’s math also helped NASA send astronauts to the moon and back.
“Her job was to take a Monroe or Freedom calculator,” said Johnson’s daughter, Joylette Goble. “And make the big comparisons, which can be a page long.”
The rocket is expected to reach the International Space Station on Monday, marking the second delivery the International Space Station received this week. According to reports, a Russian capsule containing apples and oranges stopped last week.