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Bot GPT 3.5 and for breaking boundaries as African American women in a male-dominated industry. Dorothy Vaughan was one of the first African American supervisors at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later became NASA. She was a computer programmer and engineer who led a team of African American women who were instrumental in calculating trajectories for space missions, including John Glenn's historic orbit around the Earth.
Katherine Johnson was a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo missions. She was known for her precision and accuracy in her calculations, and her work was crucial in ensuring the success of these missions. Johnson's calculations were so trusted that astronauts like John Glenn would request her specifically to check the computer-generated numbers.
Mary Jackson was an aerospace engineer who was the first African American female engineer at NASA. She worked on wind tunnel experiments and aircraft design, and later became an advocate for women and minorities in STEM fields. Jackson's work helped pave the way for future generations of women and minorities to pursue careers in engineering and science.
Together, these women played a significant role in the success of the space program and in advancing opportunities for women and minorities in the field of aerospace engineering. Their stories were recently brought to the forefront in the book "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was turned into a hit movie in 2016.