The unsung heroes of Apollo 11
‘Hidden Figures’ stand out among the many who helped achieve milestone
More than 400,000 people dedicated years of their lives to make the Apollo 11 moon landing possible. Here are just a few of the unsung heroes and heroines whose behind-the-scenes work helped make it happen. Katherine Johnson
The 2016 movie “Hidden Figures,” based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, propelled this African American mathematician and “human computer” and her counterparts Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson to the forefront of America’s consciousness.
Born to a farmer and janitor, and an educator in West Virginia, Johnson’s promise was evident in her early years. She graduated from high school at 14 and obtained math and French degrees at what is now West Virginia State University, according to a biography Shetterly wrote for NASA.
In 1953, after years as a teacher and a stay-athome mom, Johnson accepted a research mathematician position at Langley Research Center at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA. She later joined the Spacecraft Controls Branch at NASA, where she calculated the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space in 1961.
Johnson later verified the equations behind astronaut John Glenn’s orbit around the earth in 1962, and, most notably, calculated the flight trajectory for the lunar landing.
“Her calculations proved as critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landing program and the start of the Space Shuttle program, as they did to those first steps on the country’s journey into space,” according to NASA.
Johnson, now 100, retired in 1986, but her national recognition would come after her depiction by actress Taraji P. Henson in “Hidden Figures.” Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015. NASA dedicated to her the new Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., in 2017 and the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in West Virginia this year. Last year, toy company Mattel released a Barbie doll modeled after Johnson as part of their “Inspiring Women” line.
This year, on June 12, the street outside NASA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters was renamed Hidden Figures Way in honor of Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson.
JoAnn Morgan
Award-winning former NASA official JoAnn Morgan set milestones for the space agency during a time when the country was at the height of its struggle with civil rights and equal rights. Morgan, the first female engineer at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is lauded as the first woman to work in the launch control center for the Apollo 11 mission, and the only woman present in the firing room during the liftoff to the moon, according to NASA.
Born in Alabama and raised in Florida, Morgan worked as a student trainee with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at University of Florida in 1958. She later received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Jacksonville State University, and a master’s from Stanford University. Morgan went on to work for a number of crucial projects and missions during her 40-plus year career with NASA’s space flight programs, including Apollo, Gemini and Mercury, and became the first woman to serve in an executive position at NASA as associate deputy director at Kennedy. She retired from NASA in 2003.
Margaret Hamilton
Computer scientist and programmer Margaret Hamilton led the team that developed crucial software for the Apollo spacecraft.
Hamilton and her team tested the software during the landing of Apollo 11, when the lunar module’s computer encountered a “1202” alarm that alerted scientists that the computer had been overloaded with tasks, but was prioritizing the most important: steering the spacecraft’s descent and providing landing information to the crew.
“That kind of raw ability in the software was also a big contributor to getting the lunar module to the moon,” space historian Emily Carney said.
The software that Hamilton’s team created “worked out like it should have,” she said. “It saved the day.”
NASA honored Hamilton for her innovative work in 2003, and in 2016, Obama awarded Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Honor.