Back before we had electronic computers, we had human ones, making critical calculations that launched rockets into space and safely returned astronauts to Earth. One of these human computers was Katherine Johnson, a brilliant mathematician who refused to be limited by racial and gender barriers of her era.

Despite segregation policies, she boldly claimed her place in NASA's all-male research teams, earning such trust that astronaut John Glenn insisted she personally verify computer calculations before his historic orbit. Her exceptional skill with analytical geometry made her indispensable to America's space program – from Alan Shepard's first flight to the Apollo 11 moon landing.

In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. The following year, NASA honored her in 2016 by naming a research facility the "Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility."