Katherine Johnson Research Paper

Words: 459
Pages: 2

Who were the people that made the Space Race possible? What did they do? Why weren’t they recognised? These are all questions that have been asked many times before. One of the most important and valuable women that worked at NASA as a computer engineer was Katherine Johnson. Her and many other African American women are the ones who made the space race possible. Katherine Johnson and her peers were treated unfairly, although they greatly impacted the Space Race by making many monumental calculations.

Some examples of calculations that Katherine Johnson has done herself include calculating and rechecking the trajectory for the Friendship 7 with John Glenn, the Mercury-Redstone 3 with Alan Shepard, and calculations for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
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Katherine Johnson’s achievements were some of the most notable and impactful in history. Katherine Johnson and her peers also faced many obstacles and barriers in the workplace, including gender and racial discrimination. In the movie “Hidden Figures”, it is shown and clearly demonstrated how the women were segregated and treated poorly because of their race. For example, in the movie, Katherine Johnson had to walk a half mile in the rain just to use the restroom because of the segregation policy that was still present in the wings of Langley. This instance shows just a fraction of how unfairly these women were treated compared to the white women and men, as well as how truly determined they were. The second part of Katherine and her colleagues’ discrimination was gender discrimination. Even though these women had all of the correct qualifications and education, their