Black Women 'Hidden Figures' Who Helped Send America To Space Honored With Congressional Gold Medal

NASA's ‘Hidden Figures’ Celebrated with Congressional Gold Medal Honors Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A group of Black female scientists and mathematicians known as NASA's “Hidden Figures” were honored with Congressional Gold Medals on Sept. 18. The medal is the highest award given to citizens by Congress and the women were awarded for their contributions to space exploration.

The Congressional Gold Medal was presented to the families of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Christine Darden at the U.S. Capitol. Darden watched the ceremony from her Connecticut home.

The women were honored along with other women for their contributions to developing the U.S. space program during the decades long space race. While working at a segregated department at NASA’s Langley Research Center, the four women, who became known as "human computers" for their mathematical abilities, calculated projections for key projects, including the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, which allowed the U.S. to be the first to land on the moon, beating the Soviet Union during the heated space race between the two countries.

Female NASA employees hired to perform mathematics calculations and known as "human computers" are shown here in 1950: (from left) Dorothy Vaughan, Leslie Hunter and Vivian Adair. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images/Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

According to NPR during the ceremony House Speaker Mike Johnson remembered the women as “giants on whose shoulders all of those astronauts actually stood” and said their work proved that America’s strength “lies in our ability to harness the talents of all of our citizens and to look beyond divisions.”