Fact of the Day: 11/01/2023

Apollo 11 was the first mission that took humans to the moon. The space expedition was an incredible success, and it couldn’t have been done without the help of many. One of the most important contributors to the mission was JoAnn Morgan, the one and only woman present in the launch room . Even though that is what she is best known for, she worked with NASA for 45 years. According to NASA.gov, “In addition to being the first woman at NASA to win a Sloan Fellowship, she was the first woman division chief, the first woman senior executive at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the first woman associate director for KSC, the first woman director of Safety and Mission Assurance…” and that is just a sample of her accomplishments (par. 4). Her story really begins with the Explorer 1 satellite, launched in 1958. This mission, which helped in researching charged particles, inspired Morgan to join NASA’s space team. When an opportunity to sign up for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency came up, she took it, thus beginning her career at NASA. When she first worked at NASA (back then dominated by male scientists and engineers), people had to explain to the men that she was an engineer and needed to be treated like one. Men at the time would ask questions like, “Well, can we ask her to make coffee?” and she had to deal with many instances of prejudice, but she never let that get in her way. Over the years, JoAnn Morgan had to face a lot of adversity, and she was often discriminated against, but she showed women everywhere that you can do whatever you want if you try. 

Reference(s): https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-story-of-joann-morgan 

Fact Author: Bailey W.

Fact Editor: Ace

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