A space station supply ship named after NASA’s Black mathematician in the movie ‘Hidden Figures’ has entered orbit Sunday, the 59th anniversary of the launch of the historic John Glenn.
The Cygnus Northrop Grumman capsule known as the International Space Station’s ” SS Katherine Johnson ” should arrive Monday after launching from the east coast of Virginia.
Johnson died almost exactly a year ago at the age of 101.
” Mrs. Johnson was chosen for her handwritten calculation that helped put the first Americans into space, as well as her achievements in breaking glass ceiling after glass ceiling as a Black woman, ” Frank DeMauro, vice president of Northrop Grumman, said on the eve of liftoff.
Homework is for you all to go watch that movie after the launch of Cygnus. ”
Johnson’s numbers added to February 20, 1962, a flight in which Glenn became the first American to orbit the world. The film, released in late 2016, featured the effort put in by Johnson and other Black women at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in the early days of space exploration. Langley is 100 miles (160 km) from the launch site at Wallops Island.
Northrop Grumman launched the 4-ton cargo for NASA in the early afternoon from Wallops, where temperatures were just above freezing. The Antares rocket was visible from the Carolinas to Connecticut, at least where the skies were clear.
This is the second delivery at the space station in less than a week. A Russian capsule pulled Wednesday with apples and marjoram, among other things.
” Oh, we love fresh food !!! ” Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi tweeted. He noted that the space station flew over Virginia just 10 minutes ahead of Sunday’s launch.
Noguchi and the six U.S. and Russian crews can expect more apples once the Cygnus arrives, along with tomato, nuts, smoked salmon, Parmesan and cheddar cheese, caramels, and coconut strips.
The capsule also holds 120,000 tiny worms for muscle testing, as well as off-the-shelf computer equipment to increase the speed of data processing at the space station. Also flying: prospective radiation detectors for NASA’s astronauts ‘lunar landing program, and a new system to convert more astronauts’ urine into drinking water.
This is the 15th Northrop Grumman station supply run for NASA. SpaceX is NASA’s other navigator.