Most young kids dream at least once in their lives about being an astronaut and going to space. However, they won't be able to get there without all of the math and calculations of the mathematicians. During the Space Race, Katherine Johnson and a large team of other female mathematicians, called computers, at NASA calculated everything by hand that would be needed to send people on missions. Without them, no American would have gone to space. Katherine Johnson is a well-known computer who completed important calculations to send men into space during the Space Race. "In 1962, as NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn, Johnson was called upon to do the work that she would become most known for...The computers had been programmed
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Another important person in the Space Race with all of the calculations and math was Dorothy Vaughan. "Vaughan was promoted to lead the West Computers in 1949. She became NACA’s first black supervisor and one of its few female supervisors...Vaughan served as head of the West Computers until 1958, when NACA was incorporated into the newly created NASA...Vaughan and many other West Computers then joined the NASA Analysis and Computation Division, a group made up of men and women of all races. By then, the space program had begun using electronic computers, and Vaughan became an expert at FORTRAN, a computer programming language used for scientific and algebraic applications." Dorothy was in charge of the mathematicians who were calculating the equations for NASA during the Space Race, making sure that all of the calculations were there to make the launches and missions possible. Later, when she became an expert in the computer programming department as it was being used to replace human computers, she was needed to make sure that the machines were functioning correctly and the programming was being done …show more content…
"After two years in West Computing, Jackson was offered a computing position to work with engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. In addition to her computing tasks, Czarnecki offered her hands-on experience conducting experiments in the facility, and encouraged her to enter a training program that would allow her to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer...She completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first African-American female engineer. Her engineering specialty was the extremely complex field of boundary layer effects on aerospace vehicle configurations at supersonic speeds." (NASA) Mary both worked to complete the calculations for the missions and worked on the engineering parts of the mission in order for the US to succeed and win against the Soviet Union. Although these women and many others played a key role in the Space Race, they also experienced many barriers. For example, for Mary Jackson, "Since Virginia’s schools were still segregated, she had to obtain special permission to take classes with white
Another important person in the Space Race with all of the calculations and math was Dorothy Vaughan. "Vaughan was promoted to lead the West Computers in 1949. She became NACA’s first black supervisor and one of its few female supervisors...Vaughan served as head of the West Computers until 1958, when NACA was incorporated into the newly created NASA...Vaughan and many other West Computers then joined the NASA Analysis and Computation Division, a group made up of men and women of all races. By then, the space program had begun using electronic computers, and Vaughan became an expert at FORTRAN, a computer programming language used for scientific and algebraic applications." Dorothy was in charge of the mathematicians who were calculating the equations for NASA during the Space Race, making sure that all of the calculations were there to make the launches and missions possible. Later, when she became an expert in the computer programming department as it was being used to replace human computers, she was needed to make sure that the machines were functioning correctly and the programming was being done …show more content…
"After two years in West Computing, Jackson was offered a computing position to work with engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. In addition to her computing tasks, Czarnecki offered her hands-on experience conducting experiments in the facility, and encouraged her to enter a training program that would allow her to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer...She completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first African-American female engineer. Her engineering specialty was the extremely complex field of boundary layer effects on aerospace vehicle configurations at supersonic speeds." (NASA) Mary both worked to complete the calculations for the missions and worked on the engineering parts of the mission in order for the US to succeed and win against the Soviet Union. Although these women and many others played a key role in the Space Race, they also experienced many barriers. For example, for Mary Jackson, "Since Virginia’s schools were still segregated, she had to obtain special permission to take classes with white