Thread by @KerbalSpaceP

In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth, we celebrate and thank all of the African Americans who have helped make space exploration possible.
Learn more about them and their contributions in this thread.

#BHM

Christine Darden's career is most noted for her work in sonic boom reduction, prediction, and supersonic wing design. She became the director of Program Management Office of the Aerospace Performing Center and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019. #BHM

Guion Bluford was chosen as one of the first Black astronauts in 1979 and flew a total of 4 missions from 1983 to 1992, accruing a total of 688 hours in space. He is an accomplished pilot and has written several papers on computational fluid dynamics. #BHM

Benjamin Banneker was noted among other things for his almanac and ephemeris work in 1792, where he correctly predicted eclipses and planetary conjunctions for 1791 and published 6 almanacs and ephemerides from 1792-1797. #BHM

Mae Jamison was the first female Black astronaut and was chosen in 1987. She flew 1992 on a cooperative mission with Japan and was a part of the investigations of Fluid Therapy system, two bone cell research, and research into how tadpoles develop in zero gravity. #BHM

George Carruthers invented the far-ultraviolet electronographic detector, the Image Converter, camera for the Space Shuttle, and the Far Ultraviolet Cameral/spectrograph used on Apollo 16. He received a National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2012 from President Obama.#BHM

Dorothy Vaughan was a highly accomplished mathematician and handled complex and challenging assignments. NASA valued and respected her recommendations for special projects, and she was an expert programmer in FORTRAN, which calculated trajectories and landings of spacecraft. #BHM

Katherine Johnson is known for computing and calculating the trajectories for Freedom 7 and Friendship 7. She also worked on Project Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and Landsat. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 by President Barack Obama. #BHM

Mary Jackson is famous as the first Black female engineer at NASA in 1958, but her efforts paved the way for all of NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. In 1979, she became the Federal Women’s Program Manager at Langley to advocate for all women in NASA. #BHM

Dr. Ronald McNair was an accomplished physicist and researcher in the field lasers and molecular spectroscopy, and a jazz saxophonist. He was one of the lives lost during the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy in 1986. #BHM

Victor Glover became an Astronaut in 2013 for 2 missions to the International Space Station. He also was on SpaceX's crewed missions. During his time aboard the ISS, he participated in 4 spacewalks and contributed to many ISS investigations. He completed 168 days in space. #BHM

Valerie Thomas developed computer data systems for satellites, and invented the Illusion Transmitter which created an optical illusion that made images look more 3 dimensional. She received the Goddard Space Flight Center Award of Merit and the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal. #BHM

Lonnie Johnson is famous for his invention of the Super Soaker, but he was also a nuclear engineer. He worked for the U.S. Air Force on the stealth bomber program, and he worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a systems engineer for the Galileo and Cassini missions. #BHM

Correction: Mae Jemison