>>> THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN.
MAN. ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.
>> THAT WAS JULY 20th, 1969.
A COLLECTIVE MOMENT THAT AMERICA
TRULY SHARED AS A NATION, AS A
PEOPLE.
PEOPLE. THE DAY THE ASTRONAUTS OF APOLLO
11 PLANTED AN AMERICAN FLAG ON
TERRAIN NEVER BEFORE TOUCHED BY
HUMANITY.
HUMANITY. AT LEAST 600 MILLION PEOPLE
AROUND THE WORLD WATCHED WHEN IT
HAPPENED.
HAPPENED. WHAT THEY DID NOT SEE, THOUGH,
WAS ALL OF THE EFFORT FROM ALL
OF THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO MADE
THAT MOMENT POSSIBLE.
PEOPLE LIKE KATHERINE JOHNSON, A
NASA MATHEMATICIAN WHO DIED THIS
MORNING.
MORNING. JOHNSON CALCULATED THE FLIGHT
PATH THAT PUT AMERICA IN SPACE
AND A MAN ON THE MOON, AND SHE
DID WIT A PENCIL AND PAPER.
JOHNSON WAS ONE OF THE NASA
EMPLOYEES KNOWN AS COMPUTERS,
CRUNCHING NUMBERS FOR HER NATION
WITH OTHER WOMEN, SOME WHO WERE
AFRICAN AMERICAN, WORKING IN A
SEPARATE ROOM FROM WHITE
COLLEAGUES DUE TO FEDERAL
SEGREGATION LAWS.
SEGREGATION LAWS. HER LIFE’S WORK WAS HIGHLIGHTED
IN THE BOOK "HIDDEN FIGURES"
WHICH LATER BECAME A FEATURE
FILM.
FILM. IN 2015 SHE WAS AWARDED THE
PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM.
INDEED, IT IS QUITE CLEAR THAT
ICONIC AMERICAN MOMENT OF A MAN
LANDING ON THE MOON, THAT
COLOSSAL ACHIEVEMENT OF HUMAN
INGENUITY, THAT MOMENT THAT
BROUGHT US ALL TOGETHER AS A
NATION WOULD NOT HAVE ADDED UP
WITHOUT KATHERINE JOHNSON.
THE WOMAN WHO MADE ONE GIANT