Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) is a fan of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine’s decision to name the agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., after Mary W. Jackson.
Jackson was NASA’s first African-American female engineer and a subject of the famed book and then movie, “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.”
Bridenstine announced the renaming of NASA HQ on Wednesday. Brooks, whose district includes NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, applauded the move on Thursday in a statement.
“Mary Jackson’s NASA career began in the segregated West Area Computing Unit where she and other African American women worked as ‘human computers’ and did calculations that contributed to NASA’s human space flight successes,” he outlined. “Later in her career, Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA, lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.”
The congressman noted that Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last year. The portion of E Street SW in front of NASA Headquarters was also renamed “Hidden Figures Way” in 2019.
Brooks concluded, “I love the Hidden Figures movie and book. They remind us of historical wrongs America must never revisit. Thank you NASA, and my friend NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, for recognizing Mary Jackson, a splendid example of American determination, intellect and patriotism!”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.