*Three black astronauts joined hundreds of other mourners Saturday at a memorial service for pioneering African American mathematician and NASA researcher Katherine Johnson.
The brilliant mind, who calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering black female aerospace workers, died Feb. 24 at the age of 101.
More than 700 people turned out for Saturday’s memorial service at the Hampton University Convocation Center in Virginia. Black astronaut Leland Melvin was joined by fellow astronauts Yvonne Cagle and Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space.
Johnson was remembered not just as a pioneering researcher, but as a faithful church leader and family matriarch.
“Grandma, because of you, our world will forever be unlimited,” grandson Michael Moore said. “And because of you, I have no bounds.”
Her family received an outpouring of tributes, some of which were read during the service.
Former President Barack Obama, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, called her a “hero to millions” in a letter to her family.
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