National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched an International Space Station (ISS) supply ship named after the NASA mathematician in the film "Hidden Figures" to celebrate the 59th anniversary of the groundbreaking liftoff of John Glenn.

(Photo : ESA via Getty Images)
BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN - DECEMBER 28: In this handout photo supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the Giove-A satellite, part of the Galileo GPS positioning system, blasts off at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 28, 2005 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The 3.8 billion-euro Galileo navigation network is designed to rival the current US system. It will give EU states guaranteed access to a space-borne precise timing and location service independent of the United States.

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus capsule is scheduled to arrive on the ISS on Monday after being released from Virginia's eastern coast. It was named after Katherine Johnson. Johnson died at the age of 101, just precisely a year ago. Frank DeMauro, a Northrop Grumman vice president, said on the liftoff's anniversary per Space.com that Johnson chose her handwritten calculations while hailing her efforts.

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What is S.S. Katherine Johnson?

S.S. Katherine Johnson was the name given by Northrop Gruman to the spacecraft NG-15 Cygnus. According to the Associated Press, Johnson's handwritten equations led to the flight of February 20, 1962 when John Glenn became the world's first American to space.

The film "Hidden Figures" also represented the attempt made during the early days of space exploration by the former NASA mathematician and other black women at the Langley Research Center of the US Space Agency in Hampton, Virginia.

Johnson, born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on August 26, 1918, graduated in mathematics and French at 18 in 1937 and subsequently became the first black woman to attend West Virginia University graduate school. She was also one of the three black students chosen to be involved in the curriculum.

Her incredible math abilities became apparent as a young girl, helping her to follow an accelerated course in her academic studies. At an early age, she enrolled in college, took every possible math course, and obtained mentorship from several professors. The third Black individual to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, Professor W., was mentored by Johnson, according to NASA, W. Claytor of Schieffelin.

She graduated in Mathematics and French with a bachelor's degree in 1937. She was only 18 years of age. She continued in her mentor's footsteps as an instructor following graduation. Johnson found a job teaching in Virginia at a black high school. Then, at West Virginia University in Morgantown, she became the first black woman to enter graduate school.

Johnson subsequently joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA's) Space Task Force in 1957, which then became NASA the same year. Her team took the first steps towards human space flight, helped by the trajectory review of Johnson for the May 1961 Freedom 7 mission of Alan Shepard, the first human spaceflight in the world.

Not a Hidden Figure

President Obama granted Johnson the highest civilian honor in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Independence, in 2015. Johnson illustrated her efforts as a NASA mathematician in the Hollywood film "Hidden Figures." Taraji P. Henson performed the lead role of Katherine Johnson in 2016.

Johnson died on February 24, 2020. She passed away with many quotes that illustrate the keys of achievement and meaning. She gives enduring guidance to others who are trying to take Johnson's journey as a trailblazer.

As she said, "Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!"

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