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President Trump renames NASA facility in Fairmont to honor White Sulphur Springs native Katherine Johnson

Mountain Messenger

West Virginia native Katherine Johnson, right. with Jill Upson, executive director of the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs.

LEWISBURG, W.Va.  — Jill Upson, executive director of the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, spearheaded the process in February 2017. Upson, a state delegate at that time, co-sponsored bill HCR 26 which encouraged Congress to rename the NASA IV & V facility to recognize Katherine Johnson, whose mathematic calculations were crucial to the United States reaching outer space.

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito acted on the resolution and introduced her bill on the matter, S.3389, in August 2018. The bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Trump on Dec. 11, 2018.

Director Upson praised Johnson and her revolutionary work, and reflected on the West Virginia Legislature’s decision to name Aug. 26 as “Katherine Johnson Day.”

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