Photo: Steve Helber | AP
A space supply ship bound for the International Space Station (ISS) launched from Virginia on Saturday. The capsule is named for a Black mathematician whose contributions were featured in the Oscar-nominated film "Hidden Figures". The S.S. Katherine Johnson, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus capsule, was carrying 8,000 pounds of science and research supplies. It's our tradition to name each Cyngus after an individual who's played a pivotal role in human spaceflight, and Mrs. Johnson was selected for her handwritten calculations that helped launch the first Americans into space, as well as her accomplishments in breaking glass ceiling after glass ceiling as a Black woman, said Frank DeMauro of Northrop Grumman. Johnson's calculations contributed to the February 20, 1962 mission that made John Glenn the first American to orbit the globe.
|
|
More:
