Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician whose precise calculations helped NASA send astronauts safely into space and to the Moon. Before his historic 1962 orbital flight, astronaut John Glenn specifically asked that Johnson personally hand-check the numbers produced by NASA's new electronic computers before he'd agree to fly. She worked at NASA during a time when Black women were rarely given credit for their scientific work, and her story was later told in the movie Hidden Figures. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to space exploration.