2/4/2027

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Mon · Social Studies Tue · Literacy Wed · Science Thu · Math Fri · ROAR + Houses
Math of the Day

The math that flew a man into orbit

In 1962, an astronaut was about to circle the entire Earth in a spacecraft. Before he would agree to launch, he made one very specific request: he wanted one particular person to check the math by hand.

Portrait of Katherine Johnson Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Meet Katherine Johnson! She was so good at math that NASA hired her to help figure out how to send astronauts safely into space — and bring them back home!

Space travel needs a LOT of math. Katherine helped answer questions like these:

Three questions Katherine Johnson's math answered: when to launch, what path to fly, where to land
Let’s talk
  • Why would a rocket need to know EXACTLY when to launch?
  • Would you trust a math answer more from a computer, or from a real person who checked it carefully? Why?
  • What is something you’re really good at, like Katherine was good at math?
Reveal a factHide the fact
The astronaut, John Glenn, was about to be the first American to circle the whole Earth. Before he would fly, he said: “Get the girl to check the numbers.” He trusted Katherine more than the computer!
Try it

Blast off! Everybody count down together: 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BLAST OFF! Reach your arms up like a rocket flying into space — math got you there safely!

Mystery mathematician: Worked in a racially segregated computing unit at NASA, where signs even dictated which bathroom she could use. Calculated the trajectory for America’s first human spaceflight in 1961. In 1969, calculated the path for Apollo 11 — the mission that landed the first humans on the Moon.

Who is she?Hide
Portrait of Katherine Johnson Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Katherine Johnson — NASA mathematician, known as a “human computer” before electronic computers existed. In 1960 she became the first woman in her division credited as author on a research report. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and lived to 101.

In 1962, NASA’s new IBM computer calculated astronaut John Glenn’s orbital path — go/no-go points, retrofire timing, splashdown coordinates. Glenn refused to fly until one more step happened.

Timeline: the computer calculates the orbital path, Johnson verifies it by hand, Glenn flies safely
Let’s talk
  • Why would Glenn trust a person over the brand-new computer, when the computer should be faster and less likely to make errors?
  • Orbital math has no exact solution — scientists approximate and check their approximations. Why might “check your work by a different method” matter more in math than just redoing the same steps?
  • Johnson worked in a segregated unit while doing work this critical. What does that tell you about how talent and treatment don’t always match?
Reveal the answersHide the answers
Early computers were genuinely unreliable — prone to glitches and blackouts — so a second, independent method of checking mattered enormously for something this dangerous. Two different methods catching the same answer is stronger proof than one method run twice, because a flawed method repeats its own mistakes. And Johnson’s story is a direct lesson in that gap: the segregation she faced had nothing to do with her ability and everything to do with the unjust rules of her era — rules that had no relationship to who could actually do the work.
Try it

Check by a different method! Solve 24 × 16 one way. Now solve it a completely different way (breaking it apart, doubling, whatever works) to check yourself. Did both methods agree? That’s exactly what Johnson did — just with rocket science instead of multiplication.

Additional Notes/Activities

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