NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who was the real-life subject of Hidden Figures and helped Apollo 11 land on the moon, has died aged 101

• NASA confirmed Katherine Johnson’s death in a tweet on Monday morning
• Johnson was one of three black women who helped America dominate aeronautics, space research, and computer technology during World War II
• Her story inspired the 2016 Oscar-nominated film ‘Hidden Figures’ 

Katherine Johnson, the pioneering NASA mathematician whose manual calculations allowed the first American astronaut to land on the moon in 1969 and inspired the film Hidden Figures, has died aged 101.  

NASA confirmed Johnson’s passing in a tweet on Monday morning. 

‘Today, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honor her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers,’ the tweet read.   

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine praised Johnson as ‘an American hero’ whose ‘pioneering legacy will never be forgotten’.  

Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician who helped pave the way for the first American astronaut to successfully orbit the Earth, has died aged 101

NASA confirmed Johnson’s passing in a tweet on Monday morning.

Johnson was one of NASA’s so-called ‘computers’ who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand, using a pencil and slide rule. She is seen hard at work at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in 1962

Johnson is remembered as a trailblazer who helped America dominate aeronautics, space research, and computer technology during World War II. 

She was hired by NASA in 1953 and joined Project Mercury, the nation’s first human space program, a few years later as one of the so-called ‘computers’ who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand, using a pencil and slide rule. 

Johnson worked on Project Mercury, the nation’s first human space program. She is seen in an undated photo from NASA

‘Our office computed all the (rocket) trajectories,’ Johnson told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2012. 

‘You tell me when and where you want it to come down, and I will tell you where and when and how to launch it.” 

In 1961, Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 Mission, the first to carry an American into space.  

In 1962, she manually verified calculations by a nascent NASA computer for astronaut John Glenn’s groundbreaking orbital mission as the US beat the Soviet Union (USSR) in the Space Race. 

Seven years later Johnson calculated the precise trajectories that allowed the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon in 1969 before the world watched Neil Armstrong’s history-making moonwalk.  

Johnson was hired by NASA in 1953 and worked with the agency for more than 30 years. She is pictured at Langley Research Center in 1980

President Barack Obama presents Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in November 2015

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden presents Johnson with an award honoring members of the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center in December 2016

The story of how she and fellow female African American computers Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson broke the glass ceiling and the Earth’s atmosphere was told in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures. 

The Oscar-nominated film also depicts the women’s simultaneous struggle against sexism and racism during a time of segregation.

Until 1958, Johnson and other black women worked in a racially segregated computing unit at what is now called Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. 

Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson received Congressional Gold Medals, the highest civilian honor, in December after the ‘Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act’ was signed into agreement. 

In 2015, Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. 

In 2017, NASA honored her with the Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility in Hampton.    

This is a developing story. 

Johnson’s story inspired the 2016 Oscar-nominated movie Hidden Figures. She is pictured on stage with the film’s stars, Janelle Monae, Taraji P Henson and Octavia Spencer (left to right) during the 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017

Johnson was portrayed in Hidden Figures by Tajari P Henson (center left in the film)

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