NASA names headquarters building after agency’s first black engineer

NASA names headquarters building after agency’s first black engineer

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NASA paid tribute to Mary W. Jackson, the agency’s first black engineer, at a ceremony in Washington, DC, on Friday, naming its headquarters building in her honor.

Jackson, who was portrayed by Janelle Monae in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures”, started working for the agency in 1951 at the then segregated West Area Computing Unit at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. She became an engineer in 1958 and received a senior engineering title from the agency in 1979.

Later in his career, mathematics and aerospace engineer also led programs that influenced the recruitment and advancement of women at the agency in areas ranging from science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Jackson, who died in 2005 at the age of 83, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal two years ago. Her work, along with that of other black women at the space agency that helped launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit in the 1960s, drew national attention when it was written in Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 book “Hidden Figures”, which most later it was adapted for the film of great success.

During Friday’s ceremony, NASA interim administrator Steve Jurczyk said Jackson personified the “agency’s spirit of persevering against all odds, providing inspiration and advancing science and exploration.”

“There is no denying that she faced countless challenges in her work, work that would eventually help send the first Americans into space,” he said.

“She published a dozen articles. … She worked to improve commercial aircraft, analyzing data from wind tunnel experiments and real-world flight aircraft experiments, ”continued Jurczyk, noting that her work with“ other human computers, many of them black women, not only gave a lap in the space race, but it also galvanized the imagination around the world as to what we can achieve. “

Jurczyk said the name of the headquarters in honor of Jackson guarantees that “she is no longer a hidden figure”.

Jackson’s granddaughter, Wanda Jackson, and other family members attended the event, along with NASA’s Langley center director Clayton Turner, retired NASA engineer Christine Darden, who was also portrayed in Shetterly’s book, and the artist Tenbeete Solomon.

Turner said Jackson “allowed the hiring and promotion of a new generation of women mathematicians, engineers and scientists” and called her “a pioneer in diversity and inclusion in politics, yes, but even more importantly, in action”.

“She made a very special effort to get to know these young aerospace engineers, to welcome them, show them hospitality and give them advice,” said Darden as he reported Jackson’s guidance to new African American employees and others.

“She was that type of person who would do anything for anyone, without asking questions. Whatever you need, whether it’s finances, food, love, or a place to live, ”said Wanda Jackson.

The event also included video comments, such as Rep. Bobby ScottRobert (Bobby) Cortez ScottHouse Democrats will keep raising the minimum wage in the COVID-19 relief bill for Friday’s vote Total COVID recovery requires raising the minimum wage Pelosi beats GOP on Greene: ‘The enemy is in ‘MORE (D-Va.), Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., rapper and actress Eve and NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson.

Scott said he met Jackson in the early 1970s. At the time, he said he “kind of knew” that Jackson worked at NASA, but added that the engineer was a “hidden figure in terms of the contributions she made to the space program” .

“President John F. Kennedy said something like: a nation is revealed not only by those it produces, but also by those it honors and remembers. Naming this building after the name of Mary Jackson reveals a lot about our country, ”said Scott.

Wilson said he hopes the new name “will inspire girls, and black girls in particular, to consider the STEM field as a career.”

Yolanda Shea, an atmospheric scientist at the Langley Research Center, unveiled the plaque for the headquarters along with members of the Jackson family at the end of the ceremony.

The change comes about two years after the agency changed the name of the street in front of the headquarters to “Caminho das Figuras Escondidas”.

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