Related MediaFeb 22, 2021 10:17:12 IST
A space station supply ship named after NASA’s Black mathematician featured in the movie “Hidden Figures” went into orbit on Saturday, the 59th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic launch. The Cygnus Northrop Grumman capsule – known as the SS Katherine Johnson – should arrive at the International Space Station Monday after it was launched from the east coast of Virginia. Johnson died almost just a year ago at the age of 101. “Mrs. Johnson was chosen for her handwritten enumeration which helped send the first Americans into space, as well as what she achieved in breaking a glass roof after a glass roof as a Black woman, ”Frank DeMauro, vice president of Northrop Grumman, said on the eve of construction. “Homework is the key for all of you to watch that film after the launch of Cygnus.”
The Cygnus Northrop Grumman reconstruction ship, named SS Katherine Johnson, is on her way to the ISS studying fresh food and science. Image credit: Twitter / @Space_Station
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 160 kilometers from the launch site at Wallops Island.
Northrop Grumman launched the four-ton passenger 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.
We have a LIFTOFF of @NorthropGrummanSS spacecraft Katherine Johnson carrying 8,000 pounds of @ISS_Research & solar don @Space_Station! pic.twitter.com/jmJQTHtyKj
– NASA (@NASA) February 20, 2021
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 Saturday’s announcement.
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.