‘Hidden Figures’ of the space race receive Congress’ highest honor at medal ceremony

NEW YORK (AP) — The hidden figures of the area race had been acknowledged with Congress’ highest honor at a medal ceremony on Wednesday.

The Congressional Gold Medal was offered to the households of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Christine Darden on the U.S. Capitol. Darden watched the ceremony from her Connecticut residence.

A medal was additionally given to all the ladies who labored as mathematicians, engineers and “human computer systems” within the U.S. area program from the Thirties to Seventies.

“By honoring them, we honor the perfect of our nation’s spirit,” stated creator Margot Lee Shetterly, whose e book “Hidden Figures” was tailored into a movie in 2016.

The Nationwide Advisory Committee for Aeronautics – a precursor to NASA – employed tons of of girls to crunch numbers for area missions. The Black girls employed labored in a segregated unit of feminine mathematicians at what’s now NASA’s Langley Analysis Middle in Virginia.

Johnson’s hand-written calculations helped John Glenn develop into the primary American to orbit the Earth in 1962. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 – the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Vaughan rose to develop into NASA’s first Black supervisor and Jackson was NASA’s first Black feminine engineer. Darden is greatest identified for her sonic increase analysis.

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