Mary W. Jackson never accepted the status quo.

This week we announced our headquarters building in Washington will be named after Jackson, who overcame barriers to become our first Black female engineer.

Jackson started her career in 1951 at what is now our Langley Research Center in Virginia as a human computer – a mathematician who performed hand calculations for space missions. After two years working in the West Area Computing Unit, she received an offer to work in Langley’s Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, where she conducted extensive aeronautics research while taking additional training to be promoted from a mathematician to an engineer. And in 1958, Jackson became our first Black female engineer. During her engineering career, she authored or co-authored a dozen research papers.

In 1979, Jackson made a final career change, leaving engineering for Langley’s Federal Women’s Program. She would dedicate the rest of her career to the hiring and promotion of the next generation of women mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019 and was portrayed by Janelle Monae in the Oscar-winning film “ Hidden Figures." Our Administrator Jim Bridenstine noted, "We know there are many other people of color and diverse backgrounds who have contributed to our success, which is why we’re continuing the conversations started about a year ago with the agency’s Unity Campaign. NASA is dedicated to advancing diversity, and we will continue to take steps to do so.”

Space Station Spacewalk – NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken successfully completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday, June 26, with a second spacewalk scheduled for July 1. The astronauts are replacing batteries on space station's exterior.

We're All in This Together – Our planet is facing an unprecedented modern crisis as we continue to wrestle with the impacts of coronavirus. With its unparalleled technical and scientific expertise, our agency has joined the fight against the pandemic. Learn about the ideas and developments we've contributed to confront this global health crisis.

A Decade of Sun – 10 years. 20 million gigabytes of data. 425 million high-resolution images of the Sun. A new time-lapse video marks a decade of operations for our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. SDO and other missions will watch our Sun in the years to come, providing insights about our place in space and information to keep our astronauts and assets safe.

Commercial Space – One year ago, we announced the International Space Station was open for business. We're moving forward to build an economy in low-Earth orbit by partnering with industry to provide expanded opportunities on the space station, including new agreements to enable private astronaut missions, such as our deal announced this week with Virgin Galactic.

This composite image shows the International Space Station, with a crew of five on board, in silhouette as it transits the Sun on June 24 from Fredericksburg, Virginia. On board are Expedition 63 NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, and Russian space agency Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

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