Katherine Johnson officially began working as mathematician in 1953 alongside other women like Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan in the NACA West Computing department. After 1958, Katherine worked at NASA as a aerospace technologist. She became very good at calculating the trajectory or path needed for an orbital flight. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard would become the first American in space thanks to Katherine’s calculations. During her career she also provided calculations to help with the Apollo Moon landing and the start of the Space Shuttle program.

NOTE: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) is replaced by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.