Katherine Johnson
NASA research mathematician
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A story that lives on.
Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on 26 August 1918. At NASA she calculated flight paths for crewed space missions.
Before John Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7 flight, she checked the computer's orbital calculations. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and died on 24 February 2020.
Milestones of a life
- 1918
Birth
Born in White Sulphur Springs on 26 August.
- 1962
Friendship 7
Checked calculations for John Glenn's flight.
- 2020
Death
Died on 24 February.
Sources behind this story
NASA · Katherine Johnson yaşamı ve uzay uçuşu hesaplamalarıWikidata · yaşam tarihleri ve meslek (CC0)This review covers life dates, biography and chronology. Burial locations and image sources are identified separately and are not verified by this review. Reviewed: 2026-10-16. Inclusion in the historical collection does not imply endorsement of a person’s views.