4 BLAST OFF In 2020 three mission specialists were preparing to take the Starliner space module to the International Space Station ISS These specialists were Indian Slovenian American Sunita Williams African American Jeanette Epps and European American Josh Cassada Technicians prepare the Starliner for a test flight in 2021
NASA Williams completed four space walks from 2006 to 2007 From the earliest days of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA its scientists like the Starliner crew have come from all walks of life Despite facing racism sexism and ableism they've put their minds together to boldly explore space 5 EPPS A 3nnd NASA Epps earned a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering in 2000
8 through way a the PAVING THE WAY Before humans could land on the moon many minds on ground were needed to pave earth's atmosphere and back again An Apollo 11 module returns to the main space module in 1969. Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson helped make this mission possible
DOROTHY VAUGHAN Dorothy Vaughan born in 1910 in Missouri was a schoolteacher when she heard that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics NACA needed mathematicians In 1943 she began working with the West Area Computers unit a team of Black women mathematicians They did complex calculations by hand and analyzed data about the forces of flight upon aircraft In 1949 Vaughan took charge of the unit becoming NACA's first Black supervisor Vaughan advocated for her team I changed what I could and what I couldn't I endured she said Vaughan worked on a program that sent the US's first satellites into space NACA became NASA in 1958 and spaceflight became their top mission Vaughan taught herself and her team FORTRAN an early form of computer programming It helped them make calculations to make spaceflight possible 7
