NASA has honored a ‘hidden figure’ and the women who significantly contributed to the Apollo program by naming a building in Houston, which was part of the “Manned” Spacecraft Center during the moon missions.
Dorothy Vaughan and the Women of Apollo
On July 19, the Johnson Space Center (named after President Johnson in 1973) commemorated the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing by dedicating one of its original buildings as the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.”
The dedication recognizes Dorothy Vaughan, one of the “human computers” whose calculations were pivotal in guiding early aeronautics research in the United States. It also highlights the contributions of all the women in the 400,000-person workforce that enabled the first Americans to land on the moon.
Contributions of Women to the Apollo Program
“On behalf of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we are proud to host this historic event as the agency honors the significant contributions women have made to the space industry, particularly trailblazers who persevered against many challenges of their era,” said Vanessa Wyche, Johnson Space Center’s third female and first Black director. “As we prepare to return to the moon for long-term science and exploration, NASA’s Artemis missions will land the first woman and first person of color.”
“It is a privilege to dedicate Johnson’s Building 12 to the innovative women who laid the foundation for our nation’s space program,” added Wyche.
Dorothy Vaughan led the segregated “West Area Computing” unit, an all-Black group of female mathematicians, at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center) in Hampton, Virginia.
In 1958, when the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became NASA, Vaughan and many of the West Computers joined the new Analysis and Computation Division (ACD), a racially and gender-integrated group at the forefront of electronic computing. Vaughan became an expert Fortran programmer.
Vaughan’s leadership advanced NASA’s diverse workforce, particularly at Johnson, as human computers transitioned from Hampton to Houston to support Mission Control from Building 12. She championed human computers and those under her management.
Legacy and Recognition
Vaughan passed away in 2008 at the age of 98. In 2015, she was portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer in the movie “Hidden Figures,” based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same title.
Mathematician Katherine Johnson, portrayed by Taraji P. Henson, and engineer Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monáe, were similarly honored with the naming of the Computational Research Facility at Langley in 2016 and the NASA Headquarters building in Washington, D.C. in 2021, respectively.
Modern Recognition at Johnson Space Center
Although Vaughan did not work at Johnson, other women held prominent positions at the Texas home of human spaceflight during the Apollo program.
Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, for example, began her career as a “computer” before becoming the first female engineer to work in Mission Control. Northcutt helped develop the trajectory that the Apollo 8 mission followed to return the first astronauts to fly to the moon back to Earth. She was also part of the team that devised the maneuvers needed to bring the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft and its crew safely home.
Physiologist Rita Rapp, who arrived at the Manned Space Center in 1962, led the development of the Apollo food system — determining how astronauts’ meals would be packaged for the trip to the moon and back. She personally oversaw the preparation of each Apollo astronaut’s menu. Rapp died in 1989 at the age of 61.
Other women at the center worked as secretaries in the astronaut office, supporting the Apollo crew members. Antoinette “Toni” Zahn, Charlene Stroman, Jamye Coplin, Charlotte Maltese, Penny Study, and Martha Caballero were each assigned to eight to ten astronauts as the corps grew in size.
Beyond Houston and Langley, JoAnn Morgan was the first female engineer and the only woman on the Apollo launch team at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Nearby, at Kennedy’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (now the Neil A. Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building), biomedical engineer Judy Sullivan was in charge of monitoring the Apollo 11 astronauts’ health.
Similarly, Dee O’Hara served as the astronauts’ chief nurse, leading medical offices in Houston and at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.
Margaret Hamilton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston led the development of the software for the Apollo spacecraft’s guidance and navigation system. At the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Ethel Bauer helped calculate flight trajectories, while metallurgist Margaret Brennecke oversaw the materials selections for building the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket.
Barbara “Bobbie” Johnson was the Apollo program’s manager of Mission Requirements and Evaluation, the highest position a woman had held in her department. She managed more than 100 (mostly male) engineers.
Energy-Efficient Renovations at Johnson Space Center
The “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo” is one of Johnson Space Center’s original permanent structures built in 1963. Today, it serves as an administrative support building.
The 65,000-square-foot (6,000-square-meter) building was overhauled in 2012 to incorporate energy-efficient features, including a rooftop garden that, in addition to being home to nesting birds and wildflowers, has helped to reduce potable water and energy usage, provide better stormwater management, and increase UV ray protection.
