NASA Dedicates Name to Women of Apollo

The NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, will honor Dorothy Vaughan and the legendary female human computing section she led, the “women of Apollo,” on the eve of the Apollo 11 moon landing, by renaming a building in their honor with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Following the ceremony the building will be known as the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo” as a tribute to the people who made possible the first human steps on the Moon.

The dedication ceremony will be held on Thursday, July 19, the day before the 55th Anniversary of the historic Moon landing. The occasion will begin at 9:00 a.m. when NASA Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche talks about how the importance of the work of Vaughan and the women of Apollo computing group impacted the lunar landing program and continue to be significant in today’s Artemis program.

Then Debbie Korth, the agency’s Orion Program deputy manager lead a program of panel discussions whose participants will include:

• Christina Koch, NASA astronaut
• Sandy Johnson, Barrios Technology CEO
• Lara Kearney, NASA Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program manager
• Andrea Mosie, NASA Lunar Materials Repository Laboratory manager and senior sample processor
•  Dr. Shirley Price, former NASA Equal Opportunity specialist

The dedication and ribbon-cutting will take place after the program, and distinguished guests expected include NASA senior leadership, members of NASA’s Alumni League, local elected officials, and the families of Dorothy Vaughan and the women of Apollo.

Director Wyche said, “On behalf of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we are proud to host this historic event as the agency honors the significant contributions women have made to the space industry, particularly trailblazers who persevered against many challenges of their era. As we prepare to return to the Moon for long-term science and exploration, NASA’s Artemis missions will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. It’s a privilege to dedicate Johnson’s Building 12 to the innovative women who laid the foundation to our nation’s space program.”

The story of Dorothy Vaughan and her computing section is a fascinating and inspiring one. It is portrayed fairly accurately in the 2016 movie, “Hidden Figures” in which Octavia Spencer plays the role of Dorothy Vaughan. The second link below navigates to a short biographical sketch of Vaughan.

FMI:  www.nasa.gov , www.nasa.gov/people/dorothy-vaughan/