WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mary W. Jackson was the first African American female engineer at NASA.
Now, NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. will bear her name.
Mary was a mathematician and aerospace engineer who was part of a group of women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space.
Jackson died in 2005 at the age of 83.
She was played by Janelle Monae in the 2016 film, Hidden Figures and posthumously awarded the congressional gold medal in 2019.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said they were hidden no more and the Mary W. Jackson NASA headquarters honors a woman who "never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology."
📍 Welcome to the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building
— NASA (@NASA) June 25, 2020
Today, Administrator @JimBridenstine announced that we’re naming our headquarters building in Washington, DC after our first African-American female engineer: https://t.co/znX2jXklRh
