NASA’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C. will be renamed after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the exciting news on Wednesday (June 24).
Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space.
Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology.
Today, we proudly announce the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building. It appropriately sits on ‘Hidden Figures Way,’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA’s history who contributed to this agency’s success.
Hidden no more, we will continue to recognize the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds who have made NASA’s successful history of exploration possible.
Mary W. Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer, began her career with NASA in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
She went on to lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.
Ms. Jackson’s story of black excellence was told in the 2016 film, Hidden Figures.
In 2019, she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Source: NASA
