What did Katherine Johnson accomplish at NASA?

American mathematician Katherine Johnson accomplished several significant achievements during her time at NASA.

During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she developed a reputation for mastering complicated manual computations and was a pioneer in the use of computers to execute the jobs.

Johnson calculated trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, as well as rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on Moon missions.

Her estimates were also critical to the start of the Space Shuttle programme, and she worked on plans for a Mars expedition. Katherine Johnson received numerous accolades and honors for her contributions.

In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for her groundbreaking work at NASA. She also received the NASA Langley Research Center Special Achievement Award and the Congressional Gold Medal for her significant contributions to the space program.