Katherine Johnson Passed Away!

Katherine Johnson has passed away.

The woman who inspired the Hidden Figures motion picture featuring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia P Spencer and Janelle Monae has passed away.

Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician who broke barriers as an African American woman passed away at the age of 101

NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said that she "opened the door for woman and people of color."

"Katherine Johnson helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space even as she made huge strides that also opened doors for women and people of color in the universal human quest to explore space."

Johnson called her an American hero.

Henson, of Empire fame had played Johnson in the motion picture. The film was nominated at the Academy Awards. The movie chronicled the lives of three trailbreaking black women whose work at NASA was integral during the space race.

Katherine Johnson was honored by the women who played in Hidden Figures.

The space race was a biter rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union managed to get ahead of the U.S. in developmenting aircraft that excelled beyond Earth. The United States managed to beat the Russians at their own game by getting three American men to take a voyage to the Moon.

Octavia Spencer played the role of mathematician Dorothy Vaughn and Janelle Monae played the role of engineer Mary Jackson.

Johnson was the last surviving member of the three. Dorothy died in 2008. Mary died in 2005.

Johnson would eventually leave NASA and join the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1953 at the Langley Laboratory in Virginia.