Katherine Johnson: The Moonshot Mathematician

Rebel Girls

Kids & Family, Stories For Kids, Education For Kids

4.5 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Katherine Johnson was a mathematician whose calculations helped send astronauts to the moon. Despite facing racism and sexism, she broke barriers at NASA and proved that with determination, you can reach for the stars. This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. This episode was narrated by Nicole Pringle. It was written and produced by Danielle Roth, and edited by Haley Dapkus. Direction by Ashton Carter. Sound design and mixing by Carter Wogahn. Fact checking by Sam Gebauer. Our production coordinator was Natalie Hara. Haley Dapkus was our senior producer. Our executive producers were Anjelika Temple and Jes Wolfe.Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi.A special thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team, who make this podcast possible! Until next time, stay rebel!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Catherine Johnson sat at her desk, surrounded by papers, covered in numbers and equations.
0:17.0	Her pencil sprawled across her page, scratching out the calculations.
0:21.6	This wasn't just any math problem.
0:24.6	If she could find the solution to this question, she would help send a man to space.
0:31.6	It's not a job she got by accident.
0:34.6	The astronaut, John Glenn, had made a special request. A computer had already
0:40.9	calculated John Glenn's flight path, but John didn't trust it. Not yet. So he asked for
0:48.5	Catherine. Get the girl to check it, he said. If she says the numbers are good, I'm ready to go.
0:56.0	Catherine was a human computer.
1:00.0	She picked up her pencil and got to work.
1:03.0	She had to calculate the exact path the spacecraft known as Friendship 7 would take as it orbited Earth. She needed to know its every move
1:13.5	to figure out precisely where it would land when it returned. One small mistake and the mission
1:20.5	could fail. One miscalculation and a man's life could be in danger. Catherine's mind was brilliant, fast, and precise.
1:31.3	She checked every number, every equation,
1:33.9	and every calculation the computer had made.
1:37.3	Hours later, she looked up from her work.
1:40.6	The computer was right.
1:42.4	She had made sure of it.
1:47.1	This mission was ready for liftoff.
2:06.7	I'm Nicole Pringle, and this is Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a fairy tale podcast about the real-life rebel women who inspire us.
2:28.3	On this episode, Catherine Johnson, fearless trailblazer and mathematician extraordinaire. Catherine was born in 1918 in white sulfur springs, West Virginia. Back then, life was very different for black families in America.
2:40.2	Her father told stories about people in their county who had been hurt and even killed for the color of their skin.
	...

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