Katherine Johnson passed away on February 24, 2020 at the age of 101. Beyond just the feat of living such a long life, she is also remembered for her great contributions to John Glenn's orbital mission around the moon!
She faced much adversity throughout her tenure at NASA because of her race and her gender, but despite and in spite of these set-backs and prejudice, she was able to accomplish many successes, along with her colleagues: Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Their story has been turned into a movie from 2016 titled Hidden Figures.
According to NASA's main page about her and her work, "When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Johnson would talk about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module. She also worked on the Space Shuttle and the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS, later renamed Landsat) and authored or coauthored 26 research reports. She retired in 1986, after 33 years at Langley. “I loved going to work every single day,” she said. In 2015, at age 97, Johnson added another extraordinary achievement to her long list: President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor."
