John Glenn Trusted Her Over NASA’s Computers

Fact check

The facts and where they come from

1. She did math by hand, and an astronaut trusted her more than the computers. NASA: “the astronauts were wary of putting their lives in the care of the electronic calculating machines, which were prone to hiccups and blackouts”; Glenn asked engineers to “get the girl” to run the numbers “by hand, on her desktop mechanical calculating machine”; “If she says they’re good,” … “then I’m ready to go.” 12
2. Katherine Johnson, mathematician, was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (NASA: “Born: Aug. 26, 1918”). 15
3. In 1953 she joined a segregated team of Black women called computers. NASA: “She began her career at Langley in the segregated West Computing section in the summer of 1953”; “The pool of women mathematicians performing data reduction calculations were known as ‘computers.’” NASA also calls it “the all-black West Area Computing section” at NACA’s Langley laboratory, and gives “Hired by NACA: June 1953.” The laboratory was in Hampton, Virginia (Wikipedia). 215
4. In 1961 she calculated Alan Shepard’s flight into space. NASA: “She did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s May 1961 mission Freedom 7, America’s first human spaceflight.” Wikipedia: “She calculated the trajectory for the May 5, 1961, space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.” 15
5. Then John Glenn was set to orbit Earth: “In 1962, as NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn” (NASA). 1
6. NASA’s new computers had mapped his orbit, but they were prone to blackouts: “The computers had been programmed with the orbital equations that would control the trajectory of the capsule in Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission from liftoff to splashdown, but the astronauts were wary of putting their lives in the care of the electronic calculating machines, which were prone to hiccups and blackouts” (NASA). 1
7. So Glenn asked for her. NASA, introducing it with “According to Johnson”: “Glenn asked engineers to ‘get the girl’—Katherine Johnson—to run the same numbers through the same equations that had been programmed into the computers, but by hand, on her desktop mechanical calculating machine.” 21
8. She ran the same equations on her desk calculator: “by hand, on her desktop mechanical calculating machine” (NASA, the same sentence). 2
9. The quote, as she remembered it: “If she says they’re good,” she remembers the astronaut saying, “then I’m ready to go” (NASA); and “If she says they’re good,” Johnson remembers Glenn saying, “then I’m ready to go” (NASA, 2017). 23
10. In February 1962 he orbited three times and came home: “February 20, 1962 – Launch”; “Orbits: 3”; “Recovered by the destroyer USS Noa” (NASA, Mercury-Atlas 6), from “Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 14”; “Glenn’s flight was a success” (NASA biography). 41
11. She helped plot Apollo 11’s path to the Moon: she “calculated the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon” (NASA); “She also helped to calculate the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon” (Wikipedia). 25
12. When Apollo 13 went wrong, her backup charts helped bring the crew home: “In 1970, Apollo 13’s aborted mission to the Moon made use of her earlier research on backup parameters and charts, enabling the crew to safely return to Earth” (NASA). 2
13. In 2015 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. NASA: “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.” Wikipedia: “On November 24, 2015, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” 15
14. NASA named a computer research building after her: “The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, or CRF, was dedicated Sept. 22 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony” (NASA, September 23, 2017); it “advances Langley’s capabilities in modeling and simulation, big data and analysis.” 35
15. She died in 2020, aged 101: “She died on Feb. 24, 2020” (NASA); NASA’s administrator said she “passed away this morning at 101 years old.” 1
16. The Short’s last line, “Before he trusted the machines, he trusted her,” sums up the facts above: the computers had run his orbit, and Glenn’s go waited on her check. 2
17. She retired in 1986: “She retired in 1986, after 33 years at Langley” (NASA biography). In 2019 Congress awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal, and “On February 22, 2019, NASA renamed the Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility” (Wikipedia). 15

Sources

1. Katherine Johnson Biography NASA
2. Katherine G. Johnson NASA
3. NASA Langley’s Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility Officially Opens NASA (September 23, 2017)
4. Mercury-Atlas 6 NASA
5. Katherine Johnson Wikipedia

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