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NASA officially named its headquarters in Washington, DC, in honor of pioneering engineer Mary Winston Jackson in a ceremony Friday.
Jackson’s family members and other distinguished guests attended the small ceremony, including Clayton Turner, director of NASA Langley Center, retired NASA engineer and Christine Darden, artist Tenbeete Solomon, and the little ones -children of Jackson, Wanda and Bryan Jackson.
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In addition to unveiling a building sign bearing Jackson’s name, the agency screened video tributes with reflections on his NASA career, featuring family, friends, colleagues, astronauts, celebrities, elected officials and Hampton University President William R. Harvey.
In his opening statements, Jurczyk praised Jackson’s work and discussed the importance of his role at the agency.
“Jackson’s story is one of incredible determination,” he said. “She embodied the spirit of NASA to persevere against all odds, to provide inspiration and to advance science and exploration.”
“I hope that when we are able to safely return to work in person, walking through the doors of NASA’s Mary W. Jackson Headquarters each morning will inspire us all to move on and keep breaking down.” barriers, ”Jurczyk added.
Wanda Jackson said her grandmother never gloated or bragged about her accomplishments.
“She was special to us. She has always been our hero. She has always been our star. So I would like to thank NASA … once again for showing the world what the Winston and Jackson family have always known about. ‘she,’ she said.
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“There isn’t a single word that can explain how I’m feeling right now,” Bryan said. “I am overwhelmed with joy and honor.”
Jackson was the first black female engineer at NASA and her story was popularized with the release of Margot Shetterly’s book “Hidden Figures” and the film based on the life of her and her colleagues Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Darden .
Jackson was born in 1921 in Hampton, Virginia, and attended Hampton University, graduating in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
After attending college, she worked as a teacher, receptionist and accountant arriving at NASA’s forerunner organization, the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee (NACA). Jackson was a teacher, receptionist, and accountant before joining the Separate West Area Computing Unit at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1951.
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(NASA)
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Two years later, she was offered a job with engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the 4ft by 4ft Supersonic Pressure Tunnel and was encouraged to train to become an aerospace engineer.
To do this, however, Jackson needed to take graduate classes in math and physics that were held at the still-separated Hampton High School. After getting permission from the city to do so, she got the promotion and in 1958 became an engineer.
His specialty was the area of boundary layer effects on aerospace vehicle configurations at supersonic speeds.
Also in 1958, Johnson co-authored the report: “Effects of nose angle and Mach number on transition on cones at supersonic speeds.”
Seventeen years later, Johnson was the author or co-author of 12 NACA and NASA technical publications.
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In 1979, Jackson – frustrated by the lack of managerial opportunities for women in her field – left engineering to become the head of the Federal Women’s Program at NASA Langley, where she was committed to promoting the equal opportunity in the workplace for mathematicians, engineers and scientists at NASA. .
In 1985, Jackson retired from Langley, but his legacy extended far beyond his career at NASA.
She has helped out at the Hampton King Street Community Center, was a Girl Scout leader for over 30 years, chaired one of the centre’s annual United Way campaigns, and was a member of the National Technical Association.
Jackson received an Apollo Group Achievement Award and was named Langley’s Volunteer of the Year in 1976.
The NASA icon died in Hampton on February 11, 2005, at the age of 83.
In 2019, Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
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