Maiysha Kai | THE GLOW UP
America’s “Hidden Figures”—the black women behind NASA’s success in the “Space Race,” continue to be celebrated 50 years after their calculations helped man walk on the moon.
Thanks to the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act, NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, computer programmer Dorothy Vaughan, and engineers Mary Jackson and Christine Darden are being awarded Congressional Gold Medals, the highest civilian award in the United States. The bipartisan bill (pdf), introduced by Senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), among others, was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday.
