'Unheralded Stalwarts' of the Space Race Paid Tribute with Congress' Top Award during Medals Presentation
The Congressional Gold Medal was bestowed upon the relatives of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden at the US Capitol. Darden witnessed the event from her residence in Connecticut.
Similarly, medals were bestowed upon all the women who served as mathematicians, engineers, and "human computers" in the American space program from the 1930s to 1970s.
As author Margot Lee Shetterly expressed, "By honoring them, we honor the finest aspects of our nation's spirit." Her book, "Hidden Figures," was transformed into a movie in 2016.
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA's predecessor) employed numerous women to perform numerical computations for space missions. The Black women were assigned to a segregated unit of female mathematicians at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia at that time.
Johnson's handwritten calculations played a significant role in John Glenn's successful orbit around Earth in 1962, earning her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 – the highest civilian honor in the U.S.
Vaughan achieved the position of NASA's first Black supervisor, while Jackson made history as the first Black female engineer at NASA. Darden is renowned for her research into sonic booms.
We should be proud of this recognition, as it honors not only the Johnson family but also us, as Americans, for embracing diversity and talent where it's due.
The ceremony at the US Capitol served as a powerful reminder of how these trailblazing women have significantly contributed to our shared US space program history.
