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Now his name and legacy will remain at the forefront of a NASA facility that embodies his work.
"The installation program contributes to the safety and success of NASA's most prestigious missions by ensuring that the mission software is working properly," said the space agency.
This change of name could not be more appropriate for Johnson, who calculated by hand the trajectory of America's first inhabited journey into space.
Any small mistake could be catastrophic. But Johnson and the computer pool did calculations for groundbreaking and successful space missions, including Alan Shepard's 1961 trip – which made him the first American in space – and John Glenn's mission. in 1962, which made him the first American to orbit on Earth.
But Johnson's contributions, like those of many female "computers", have often been neglected in history. That was until 2016, when the hit novel and the movie "Hidden Figures" informed their work and the challenges they faced, including racial segregation at NASA.
Glenn nervously prepares his flight in a pivotal scene of the film. The calculating machines were so new that Glenn was skeptical about their calculations. Glenn then asked Johnson – whose talent was known to NASA – to independently confirm the calculations by hand before feeling comfortable enough to begin his journey three times around the Earth.
But the rise of Johnson within NASA has not been easy.
She was born in 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, where Black Education was completed in eighth grade.
But her parents recognized her talent for mathematics and sent her to high school on the campus of the West Virginia State Institute, a black college located 160 km away. This paid off and she graduated from high school at age 14, and then at West Virginia State in 1937, at age 18.
Like many women of her time, she became a teacher, but she wanted to become a research mathematician.
For years, the women occupied a separate wing, "West Area Computing", and used separate facilities. It is here that Johnson started in 1953.
After only two weeks, she was transferred to the flight research division of the institution. She worked there for years until the Soviet satellite Sputnik began the space race between the United States and the USSR.
Johnson made his way through the briefings traditionally attended only by men and secured a place in the tight circle of the American space program.
His work allowed to map the surface of the moon before the 1969 landing and played a role in the safe return of the Apollo 13 astronauts. Johnson retired in 1986.
Three decades later, the head of NASA said it was appropriate to rename a facility in Johnson's honor in his home state, West Virginia.
"I am delighted that we are honoring Katherine Johnson in this way because she is a true American icon who has overcome incredible obstacles and inspired many," said NASA's Jim Bridenstine.
The school is planning a new consecration ceremony.
Rebekah Riess, Saeed Ahmed and Emanuella Grinberg of CNN contributed to this report.
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