Washington — “A group of black women who played a key role in NASA’s success during the space race.”Hidden Figures” was honored at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Capitol on Wednesday.
“This has been a long time coming,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said at the event. “At a time when our country was divided by color and gender, these women were stepping into areas where they had previously been unwelcome.”
“Hidden Figures” were considered important to NASA’s work in the 1930s-1970s. They calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits. Put a man on the moon.
Three women (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson) were honored posthumously. A fourth woman, Christine Darden, was honored for her work as an aeronautical engineer.
Johnson praised women for “laying the foundation so that our rockets can launch, our astronauts can fly and our nation can soar.”
“We call them the ‘Hidden Figures,’ but we shouldn’t think of them as mere side characters in America’s story of space, explanation, and exploration,” Johnson said. “They were engineers and mathematicians who actually wrote the story itself.”
Robert Nye / AP
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, called their contributions “numerous,” adding, “They have proven an irrefutable fact: Our diversity is our strength.”
The medals were awarded to the families of the four women. Another medal was given symbolically to all those who contributed to NASA during that period.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said their accomplishments were “all the more impressive” given the challenges they faced because of racism and sexism.
“Awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal honors their lives and accomplishments and ensures that they will continue to inspire Americans for years to come,” Nelson said. “When the first woman from the Artemis program lands on the moon, she will follow the path pioneered by the women we honor today.”
Also speaking out in praise of women were Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book about black female mathematicians and their roles in the space race was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2016; Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons; West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito; and Oklahoma Republican Rep. Frank Lucas.
