Katherine Johnson

Hello! My name is Katherine, and I loved numbers more than anything. When I was a little girl, I counted everything I could see. I counted the steps to my front door, the plates on the dinner table, and even the bright, shiny stars in the big night sky. To me, numbers were like a fun game or a secret puzzle. I was very, very good at solving them. I always asked lots of questions because I wanted to learn more and more. My family saw how much I loved learning, and they helped me go to a great school where I could study all the math I wanted.

When I grew up, I got a very important job at a place called NASA. Do you know what they do there? They send big, loud rockets way up into space. It was my job to help the brave astronauts fly their spaceships safely. They called me a 'human computer.' That’s a funny name, isn't it? It just means I used my brain, a pencil, and lots of paper to figure out the perfect paths for the rockets to follow. I made sure everyone would be safe as they traveled far, far away from home, all the way to the Moon.

One famous astronaut was named John Glenn. Before he flew into space on February 20th, 1962, he wanted to be extra sure it was safe. He said, 'Have Katherine check the numbers.' He trusted me to get it right. And I did. A few years later, on July 20th, 1969, my math helped send the Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon. I lived a long, happy life filled with numbers, and then I died. But my work shows that if you love something and work hard, you can help people reach for the stars.