Nasa announced on Wednesday that it would name its Washington, DC, headquarters after Mary Jackson, the organisation’s first black female engineer and a pivotal player in helping US astronauts reach space.
Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of Nasa, said the agency would continue to honour those whose histories have long been overlooked.
“Today, we proudly announce the Mary W. Jackson Nasa Headquarters building,” Bridenstine said in a statement. “It appropriately sits on ‘Hidden Figures Way,’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in Nasa’s history who contributed to this agency’s success.”
Carolyn Lewis, Jackson’s daughter, said she felt honoured to see Nasa continue to celebrate her mother’s legacy.
“She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at Nasa, but throughout this nation,” Lewis said in the statement.
Born in Hampton, Virginia, Jackson graduated from the Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton University, in 1942, after graduating in maths and physical science.
In 1951, she began working at Nasa’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in the then-segregated West Area Computing Unit. She went on to work with Nasa’s 4x4 supersonic pressure tunnel and became the agency’s first black female engineer in 1958. She retired from Nasa in 1985.
Her contributions, along with the work of the Nasa mathematicians Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, were highlighted in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, inspired by a book by Margot Lee Shetterly.
New York Times News Service
