Pictured above is a Northrup Grumman Antares rocket lifting off today from Wallops Island with the"S.S. Katherine Johnson" Cygnus capsule aboard. Johnson was the African-American NASA mathematician who, with her African-American colleagues, was pivotal to NASA's launches by producing precise, infallible hand-written calculations as depicted in the 2016 film "Hidden Figures." She out performed the computers of her day, all the while suffering discrimination by being a black woman.
Launched today on the 59th anniversary of John Glenn's launch into space, the capsule is expected to dock with the International Space Station on Monday. Northrup Grumman vice president Frank DeMauro had this to say about Mrs. Johnson's epic achievements:
“Mrs. Johnson was selected for her hand-written calculations that helped launch the first Americans into space, as well as her accomplishments in breaking glass ceiling after glass ceiling as a Black woman. A homework assignment for all of you is to go watch that movie after the Cygnus launch.”
Here's NASA's narration of the launch:
We have LIFTOFF of @NorthropGrumman’s S.S. Katherine Johnson spacecraft carrying 8,000 pounds of @ISS_Research & supplies to the @Space_Station! pic.twitter.com/jmJQTHtyKj
— NASA (@NASA) February 20, 2021
(photo: Steve Helber/AP)
