NASA’s ‘Hidden Figures’ receive Congressional Gold Medals

Karah Rucker

THE HIDDEN FIGURES OF NASA IS RECEIVING RECOGNITION.

THE GROUP OF BLACK WOMEN WHO PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE EARLY SUCCESSES OF THE U-S SPACE PROGRAM.

ON CAPITOL HILL THIS WEEK – THESE WOMEN WERE HONORED WITH THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON LED THE CEREMONY – PRAISING THESE WOMEN FOR STEPPING INTO FIELDS WHERE THEY WEREN’T WELCOME – AT A TIME WHEN AMERICA WAS DEEPLY DIVIDED BY RACE AND GENDER. 

JOHNSON CALLED THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS THE VERY FOUNDATION OF NASA’S SUCCESS IN LAUNCHING ROCKETS AND SENDING ASTRONAUTS TO THE MOON.

THESE MATHEMATICIANS AND ENGINEERS, PLAYED KEY ROLES IN THE EARLY AMERICAN SPACE FLIGHTS, CALCULATING ROCKET TRAJECTORIES AND ORBITS. 

THREE OF THE WOMEN — KATHERINE JOHNSON, DOROTHY VAUGHAN AND MARY JACKSON — WERE HONORED POSTHUMOUSLY. THE FOURTH WOMAN, CHRISTINE DARDEN, BEST KNOWN FOR HER SONIC BOOM RESEARCH, WAS HONORED FOR HER WORK AS AN AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER. 

NASA’S ADMINISTRATOR BILL NELSON ALSO HIGHLIGHTED THE CHALLENGES THESE WOMEN FACED, SAYING THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE EVEN MORE REMARKABLE GIVEN THE BARRIERS OF RACISM AND SEXISM. 

ALSO SPEAKING, MARGOT LEE SHETTERLY, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK, HIDDEN FIGURES, WHICH HELPED SHINE A LIGHT ON THEIR STORY.

AN ADDITIONAL MEDAL WAS SYMBOLICALLY PRESENTED TO HONOR ALL THOSE CONTRIBUTIONS TO NASA THAT WENT UNRECOGNIZED.

I’M KARAH R. 

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