NASA has launched afresh websitededicated to the women , past and present , who have played a major part in advances in spaceflight .
NASA actually has a farseeing chronicle of supporting women in space skill , though perhaps their achievements have n’t been recognized quite as well as they should have been . However , we appear to be free a undulation of recognition for women ’s contribution to the space program , following on from the release of Margot Lee Shetterly ’s well - selling bookHidden Figuresand the presently - to - be releasedfilm of the same name .
Hidden Figuresreveals the chronicle of the “ human computers ” , the ignominious female mathematicians recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ) , the precursor to NASA , in the forties during the labor shortage of WWII powerful through to the Space Race and the first Moon landing . The motion picture boil down on Katherine Johnson , one of the most well - know of these “ computers ” , who calculated the flying trajectories for Project mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 landing that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon .
The achievements ofMargaret Hamilton , another computer scientists who was all important to the success of the Apollo 11 landing , were recently recognized nationally when President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the gamy civilian award in the US – last hebdomad .
NASA ’s newModern Figureswebsite is devote to these human data processor as well as the char today who are continuing their bequest .
The site have life history , interviews , galleries , projects , and missions as well as resources for teacher and pedagog . It celebrate the women who helped put a man on the Moon , while looking forwards to the women who are fit to be instrumental in set up a person – man or woman – on Mars .
At a time when awe of discrimination against woman and minorities in science is avery real terror , it ’s reassuring to see an agency of such prominence not only give women who might be consider as unsung bomber the attention they deserve , but to remind us that diverseness in skill is what is going to keep driving us forward .
“ Progress is get by questioning our assumptions and ethnic prejudice . By embracing and nurturing all the talent we have available , regardless of gender , race or other protected position , ” says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in the introductory television .
“ To build a workforce as various as our missions , embrace variety and inclusion body is how we , as a nation , take the next giant leap in geographic expedition . ”
