During WWII, Dorothy Vaughn served her country by working as a human computer at Langley's National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.  She was the first African American woman to become a supervisor at NACA and later a computer programmer  who used Fortran. 

​

Before working with full-sized planes, Mary Jackson and her team of engineers performed experiments on model planes in wind tunnels.

 

Katherine Goble Johnsons saved many lives with her work  turbulence. Later Astronaut John Glenn wanted her to double check the numbers of the mechanical computers. He trusted her work more than the machines to get him into orbit around the Earth. 

​

Christine Darden was the next generation of NASA engineers whose research with supersonic flight is still used today.