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Mary Jackson
NASA benennt Hauptgebäude nach erster schwarzer Ingenieurin

Mary Jackson gehörte zu einer kleinen Gruppe schwarzer Frauen, die in den 50er Jahren für die US-Raumfahrtbehörde gearbeitet hatten. Jetzt soll sie geehrt werden.

25. Juni 2020, 8:50 Uhr Quelle: ZEIT ONLINE, dpa, jsp 32 Kommentare


Mary Jackson im Jahr 1980 © Bob Nye/​NASA/​Interim Archives/​Getty Images

[ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] hat ihr Hauptgebäude in Washington zu Ehren der ersten schwarzen Ingenieurin im Dienst der US-Raumfahrtbehörde umbenannt. Das Gebäude werde künftig Mary Jackson heißen, teilte NASA-Chef Jim Bridenstine am Mittwoch mit.

Die 2005 gestorbene Ingenieurin hatte ab den frühen 50er Jahren für die NASA gearbeitet. Dort gehörte sie zu einer kleinen Gruppe schwarzer Frauen, die komplizierteste Berechnungen für Raumfahrt-Missionen weitgehend ohne Hilfsmittel anstellte – dafür öffentlich damals aber keinerlei Anerkennung erfuhr. Erst 2016 wurden Jackson und einige ihrer Kolleginnen durch den Hollywood-Film Hidden Figures einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekannt.

Seit US-amerikanische Polizisten den Schwarzen [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] in Minneapolis Ende Mai ermordeten, demonstrieren weltweit Menschen gegen strukturellen Rassismus. Soziale Medien wie Twitter und Facebook dienen [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] weltweit als Sprachrohr. Unter dem Hashtag #Blacklivesmatter teilen viele ihre Erfahrungen und rufen zu gemeinsamen Protesten auf.

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Zu dem Film "Hidden Figures" ein deutscher Trailer:

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HIDDEN FIGURES ist die unglaubliche, noch nie erzählte Geschichte von Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) und Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) - herausragende afro-amerikanische Frauen, die bei der NASA gearbeitet haben und in dieser Funktion als brillante Köpfe einer der größten Unternehmungen in der Geschichte gelten: Sie haben den Astronauten John Glenn in die Umlaufbahn geschickt. Eine fantastische Errungenschaft, die der Nation neues Selbstbewusstsein gab, das Rennen im Weltall neu definitierte und die Welt aufrüttelte. Dieses visionäre Trio überschritt jegliche Geschlechts- und Rassengrenzen und inspirierte Generationen, an ihren großen Träumen festzuhalten.

Die Nasa hat dazu auch einen Artikel gebracht:

June 24, 2020
RELEASE 20-068
NASA Names Headquarters After ‘Hidden Figure’ Mary W. Jackson


Mary Winston Jackson (1921–2005) successfully overcame the barriers of segregation and gender bias to become a professional aerospace engineer and leader in ensuring equal opportunities for future generations.
Credits: NASA

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Wednesday the agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., will be named after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA.

Jackson started her NASA career in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer, went on to lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. In 2019, she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

“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,” said Bridenstine. “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.”

The work of the West Area Computing Unit caught widespread national attention in the 2016 Margot Lee Shetterly book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.” The book was made into a popular movie that same year and Jackson’s character was played by award-winning actress Janelle Monáe.

In 2019, after a bipartisan bill by Sens. Ted Cruz, Ed Markey, John Thune, and Bill Nelson made its way through Congress, the portion of E Street SW in front of NASA Headquarters was renamed Hidden Figures Way.

“We are honored that NASA continues to celebrate the legacy of our mother and grandmother Mary W. Jackson,” said, Carolyn Lewis, Mary’s daughter. “She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA, but throughout this nation.”

Jackson was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia. After graduating high school, she graduated from Hampton Institute in 1942 with a dual degree in math and physical sciences, and initially accepted a job as a math teacher in Calvert County, Maryland. She would work as a bookkeeper, marry Levi Jackson and start a family, and work a job as a U.S. Army secretary before her aerospace career would take off.

In 1951, Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which in 1958 was succeeded by NASA. She started as a research mathematician who became known as one of the human computers at Langley. She worked under fellow “Hidden Figure” Dorothy Vaughan in the segregated West Area Computing Unit.

After two years in the computing pool, Jackson received an offer to work in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000 horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models with winds approaching twice the speed of sound. There, she received hands-on experience conducting experiments. Her supervisor eventually suggested she enter a training program that would allow Jackson to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer. Because the classes were held at then-segregated Hampton High School, Jackson needed special permission to join her white peers in the classroom.

Jackson completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first Black female engineer. For nearly two decades during her engineering career, she authored or co-authored research numerous reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes. In 1979, she joined Langley’s Federal Women’s Program, where she worked hard to address the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. Mary retired from Langley in 1985.

In 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act that posthumously awarded the honor to Jackson, who passed away in 2005, and her “Hidden Figures” colleagues Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Christine Darden.

In 2017, then 99-year-old Katherine Johnson was there to personally dedicate a new state-of-the-art computer research facility the bears her name at Langley. Johnson, another original member of the West Area Computing Unit, also was honored as a trailblazer and given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. In addition, Johnson was part of the group honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, and NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, also bears Johnson’s name.

“NASA facilities across the country are named after people who dedicated their lives to push the frontiers of the aerospace industry. The nation is beginning to awaken to the greater need to honor the full diversity of people who helped pioneer our great nation. Over the years NASA has worked to honor the work of these Hidden Figures in various ways, including naming facilities, renaming streets and celebrating their legacy,” added Bridenstine. “We know there are many other people of color and diverse backgrounds who have contributed to our success, which is why we’re continuing the conversations started about a year ago with the agency’s Unity Campaign. NASA is dedicated to advancing diversity, and we will continue to take steps to do so.”

For additional information on Mary W. Jackson, the “Hidden Figures,” and today’s Modern Figures, visit:
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-end-

Bettina Inclán / Matthew Rydin
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-603-7522
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Last Updated: June 25, 2020
Editor: Sean Potter

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