Katherine Johnson Quiz

Which of the following best describes the attitude toward girls at the time Katherine Johnson was born?

• Girls weren’t valued for their intellectual abilities.

• Girls were considered equal to boys in every way.

• Girls were highly valued for their contributions to math and science.

• Girls were given more opportunities than boys.

Under segregation laws, African-American people were

• required to enlist as soldiers to fight in the war.

• separated from white people and treated poorly.

• encouraged to work with white people.

• asked to give their jobs to women.

What milestone Katherine Johnson reach at age 15?

• She calculated her first rocket trajectory.

• She began working at NASA.

• She began college.

• She began high school.

The human computers at NASA were

• young children with strong math skills.

• electronic machines made of metal and wires.

• women who did calculations with numbers.

• rockets that orbited Earth.

Which of the following best describes the organization of black and white human computers at NASA in the 1950s?

• Black and white computers all worked and ate meals together.

• Black computers were forced to use separate workspaces, bathrooms and cafeterias than white computers.

• White computers were the black computers’ bosses, and black computers did projects for them.

• Black computers were the white computers’ bosses, and white computers did projects for them.

How did Katherine Johnson respond when it seemed that certain meetings at NASA were only for men?

• She accepted that the meetings were only for men and didn’t ask to attend.

• She created special meetings that were only for women.

• She brought NASA to court and won the right for women to attend all meetings.

• She asked if there was a law against women attending and then attended the meetings.

By 1958, America was involved in a race with the Soviet Union to

• desegregate workplaces.

• explore outer space.

• develop new medical procedures for injured soldiers.

• build the smallest electronic computer.

The trajectory of a rocket is the

• amount of fuel it needs.

• path it takes.

• astronaut who flies in it.

• computer inside it.

In which of the following space missions did Katherine Johnson play a role?

• Alan Shepard’s first flight into space

• John Glenn’s first orbit of the Earth

• Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 mission to the moon

• all of the above

What did John Glenn ask Katherine Johnson to do before he orbited the Earth?

• calculate his trajectory instead of having an electronic computer do it

• fly with him in the spacecraft around the Earth

• double check the original calculations that had been done by an electronic computer

• teach him how to calculate trajectories