115th First Flight Anniversary Celebration to Honor NASA’s Katherine Johnson

Posted By Matt Artz on November 29, 2018

No longer a hidden figure in the history of NASA and aviation, Katherine Johnson will be inducted into the Paul E. Garber First Flight Society Shrine during the 115th first flight anniversary celebration on December 17 at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.

Katherine Johnson is one of the subjects of the award winning 2016 movie Hidden Figures, which tells the story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the United States space program. Taraji P. Henson plays Johnson in the film, which co-stars Oscar nominee Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson, the other two members of Johnson’s NASA team. The film was nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture of the Year.

Admission is free for this event.

Here’s the tentative program schedule for the event at Wright Brothers National Memorial on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018:

8:30am – Prelude Band Concert by Northeastern High School Band, Dr. Wayne James, Director

8:45am – Official Opening Ceremonies

• Presiding – Arthur Lamothe, President First Flight Society
• Presentation of Colors – Civil Air Patrol Cadets, NC Wings
• Pledge of Allegiance – Lt. Col Max Benbow
• National Anthem – Echo of Heritage
• Invocation – Pastor Marc O’Neal, Camden United Methodist Church
• Official Welcome – Mr. Dave Hallac, Superintendent, NPS Outer Banks Group
• Remarks from Wright brothers descendant Paul Wright Jameson
• Recognition of Special Guests – Arthur J. Lamothe, President First Flight Society
• Tribute to Katherine G. Johnson and First Flight Shrine Induction – Dr. Tom Crouch, Senior Curator, Aeronautics, Smithsonian. Katherine Johnson was a National Aeronautics and Space Administration mathematician who exhibited exceptional technical leadership, calculating and verifying trajectories that took the first Americans to space and to the moon
• Introduction of Speaker – Dr. Charles Davidson, FFS Board of Directors
• Keynote Speaker – Dr. David E. Bowles, Director NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
• Wright Brothers Story – Park Ranger Amiee Ginnever
• Wreath Presentation by 1903 Witness Descendants – Darrell Collins, Historian, FFS Lifetime Member

10:35am – NASA Tribute – Wright Brothers National Memorial Flyover

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