Blast Off with Katherine Johnson and the Moonshot Computers!
Millions of people watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon in July 1969, but few of them appreciated the math that helped him get there! For years, the women who served as the first computers were taken for granted. They were just part of the support staff in the background of the achievement. A Grade Ahead encourages students to emulate amazing mathematicians and scientists, so I wanted to learn more about these wonderful role models. In this installment of A Grade Ahead’s evolution of math series, I will explore the work of Katherine Johnson, who is representative of the women mathematicians who helped Americans walk on the moon!
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Computers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
Early 1900s
In 1915, Congress, thinking that the United States needed to be on the cutting edge of aeronautical technology, created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Its job was to study how to make airplanes fly higher and faster, which it did by hiring the best minds.
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By the 1930s, the NACA engineers and scientists’ work was so advanced that it required a tremendous number of complicated calculations. This number crunching was considered tedious by the men, so the NACA turned to women to do the math for them. Although they were mathematicians, they were called “computers” because they computed the numbers.
Mid-1900s
World War II increased the pressure on the NACA to innovate as more and more men enlisted. They needed their own army of human computers. However, there was only a small pool of qualified women from which to draw the necessary talent. At the same time, Executive Order 8802 established fair employment practices in all government projects. The NACA began to recruit Black women more aggressively as well as White women to fill their needs.
After the war ended, many of the women computers left the NACA to become full-time homemakers. For those who stayed, though, the work began to change. Inanimate, electronic computers were beginning to replace humans in the 1950s, but the new computers had glitches and could make errors. Human computers were still needed, and the NACA continued to turn to women. At the same time, the human computers embraced the future and taught themselves how to program the new computers.
Hired by the NACA in 1953, Katherine Johnson, a Black woman from West Virginia, was one of those human computers whose future was changing in the 1950s. Johnson had studied challenging higher-level math before her marriage and motherhood and was eager to explore it once more. She was permanently assigned to the department that studied flight paths, but soon her job would challenge even her prodigious math skills.
The Space Race and the Computers
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into low orbit around the Earth. Called Sputnik I, this satellite frightened the American people. Then, the Soviets launched two more satellites! This was the first time humans had been able to break through the Earth’s atmosphere. Now, the Soviets had technology that the United States did not, and Americans were worried about how they might use that technology. Americans seemed to be lagging further and further behind.
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In 1958, the NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which was tasked with getting a man into space before the Soviets. Unfortunately, the Soviets got there first again, launching cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in April 1961. American astronaut Alan Shepard traveled into space just one month later.
NACA to NASA
In 1962, NASA planned another groundbreaking voyage into space. Astronaut John Glenn was selected to orbit the Earth three times. Glenn’s trajectory was carefully plotted to get him into space and home safely. To do that, Katherine Johnson and her coworkers used complex analytic geometry, which studies coordinate geometry using algebraic equations and symbols. Once they had the equations, they fed them into the latest model of IBM computers to crunch the numbers.
John Glenn, however, insisted that Johnson double-check the computer’s math. He wanted the best human computer on the job because he was aware that the electronic computers had their limits. Johnson and the computer agreed on the numbers, and on February 20, 1962, John Glenn was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. He orbited the Earth three times before splashing down safely in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Soviets had only managed to orbit the Earth once, so this voyage helped the United States take the lead in the Space Race.
The Moonshot Challenge
In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged NASA to get an American astronaut to the moon by the end of the 1960s. This had been a dream of the NASA mathematicians and engineers from the beginning, but now they had a specific deadline.
There were so many considerations in not only reaching the moon but also walking on it and getting home. For example, they needed a rocket that could break the Earth’s atmosphere without exploding entirely. That rocket needed to carry the weight of two vehicles, the astronauts, and the equipment that they needed to walk on the moon. NASA employees relied on the principles of calculus and complex equations to work out everything from the shape of the vehicles to the type and amount of fuel needed to power the rockets.
And, of course, they had to work out the trajectory of the astronauts once again. This time, though, they had to account for the orbit of the Moon. After exploring the moon, the lunar module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had to meet up with the command module piloted by Michael Collins. If the two vehicles didn’t perfectly align, the astronauts would be stranded, but the command module would be orbiting the moon. They would only have a small window of time to reconnect. Again, though, the NASA team, including Katherine Johnson, worked out the math perfectly.
The journey to the Moon took 3 days. Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon for 2 hours before returning to the command module. Then, another three days later, all three astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. It was a successful journey for all involved.
The Legacy of the Moonshot Math
Although extraordinarily expensive, the technology that came out of the Space Race changed lives. The innovations in computers and computer programming in particular have led to scientific breakthroughs in other disciplines. Our knowledge of Space and the possibilities it offers continue to inspire people around the world. And, of course, the calculus and geometry required to accomplish these things led the way for deepening our understanding of the universe.
Kids can take their first steps towards Space in their math and science classrooms. A Grade Ahead’s curriculum, for example, helps students build the skills they need for the complex math required to explore the stars. We start by introducing our second graders to basic algebraic thinking and finish by helping our high school students explore the three-dimensional coordinate system that helped calculate the astronauts’ trajectories in the 1960s. A Grade Ahead’s science curriculum encourages students explore the solar system as well as the world around us.
Did you reach for the stars when you were a student? Do you encourage your child to reach for the stars now? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
Author: Susanna Robbins, Teacher and Franchise Assistant at A Grade Ahead
