Engineering & invention · Government & military
John Glenn
Friendship 7 astronaut
Photograph · Image credit
Who they are
John Glenn was the astronaut preparing for the Friendship 7 orbital mission when, according to Katherine Johnson’s recollection in NASA’s biography, he asked for her independent check of the computer-generated orbital calculations. The episode highlights the trust between astronaut, mathematician and a larger engineering network responsible for the mission.
His connection is the human decision to seek verification before an early orbital flight.
Selected contributions
- Requested Johnson’s independent check of programmed orbital calculations, according to her recollection preserved by NASA.Source ↗
In the timeline
Biography sources & portrait credit
- Katherine Johnson Biography ↗NASA Langley Research Center
Portrait credit
U.S. Senate Historical Office. Public domain (U.S. federal government work). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
Image source & identification ↗ · Public domain (U.S. federal government work) ↗
