How NACA became NASA, and how women made it a force to be reckoned. The Space Race How NACA became NASA, and how women made it a force to be reckoned.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was founded in 1915, with a charter to “supervise and direct the scientific study the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.” As a result of the Space Race between the United States and Russia, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958, superseding NACA, and other related agencies. In the Beginning…

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite into orbit. It was the size of an average beach ball and took 98 minutes to orbit Earth. Sputnik’s launch marked the beginning of the Space Race between the US and USSR. Sputnik

Yuri Gagarin was a Russian cosmonaut, who on April 12, 1961, became the first human in space, making a 108 minute orbital flight in the spacecraft Vostok 1. This was the first successful spaceflight made by anyone. Yuri Gagarin

In his space craft Freedom 7, Alan Shepard was the first American to make spaceflight, launching 116 miles into space. The flight took roughly 15 ½ minutes. Although he did not orbit Earth, his first flight was a success. He did not return to spaceflight again until Apollo 14. Alan Shepard

She was math teacher before she became a computer for NACA in 1949 She was math teacher before she became a computer for NACA in 1949. Because of the Jim Crow segregation laws, Dorothy and her fellow Black colleagues were segregated to the West Campus, where she led the computer group. When NACA transitioned to NASA in 1958, she knew she was going to be replace by the new Integrated Business Model (IBM) so she taught herself the new language of Fortran, and learned how to program the new computer. She taught her colleagues how to program and eventually moved from the segregated building to the main hub. She stayed there until she retired in 1971. Dorothy Vaughan

Mary worked in the West Computing Division for 2 years before working with engineer Kamierz Czarnecki on the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. Czarnecki encouraged Mary to become an engineer, requiring her to take night classes at a then all-white school. Mary had to request the courts to allow her to attend the night school; and in 1958, she became NASA’s first black female engineer. She stayed with NASA until 1984, but in 1979 she took a demotion to take a position as a hiring and promotion manager. Mary Jackson

Katherine became the third African American to earn her PhD at the age of 19. She became a teacher before joining NACA in 1952, She was an integral member of the calculations team that launched the first American into orbit. She stayed with NASA all through the Apollo missions to the moon. John Glenn didn’t trust the IBM and would only fly until Katherine could confirm the numbers. Katherine Johnson

John Glenn became the first American man to orbit the Earth on May 5, 1961. He was an astronaut until 1964, and later was promoted to Colonel before his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1965. He became a Senator for Ohio in 1974, and remained there until 1998. John Glenn passed away in 2016, shortly before the release of the movie Hidden Figures. John Glenn