The inspiring autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine
Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11.
As a young girl, Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for
math. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon
studying complex equations with the support of a professor who saw
great promise in her. But ability and opportunity did not always go
hand in hand. As an African American and a girl growing up in an era
of brutal racism and sexism, Katherine faced daily challenges. Still,
she lived her life with her father’s words in mind: “You are no
better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.”
In the early 1950s,
Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become
NASA. She worked on many of NASA’s biggest projects including the
Apollo 11 mission that landed the first men on the moon.
Katherine Johnson’s
story was made famous in the bestselling book and Oscar-nominated
film Hidden Figures. Now in Reaching for the Moon she tells
her own story for the first time, in a lively autobiography that will
inspire young readers everywhere.