NASA announced on Wednesday (local time) it is naming the agency's headquarters building in Washington DC after mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson.
Jackson became the first African American female engineer at NASA in 1958. She first started her career there in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
She went on to lead programs that influenced the hiring and promotion of women in NASA's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, the agency said in a statement.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said Jackson was part of a group of "very important women" who helped the agency succeed in getting US astronauts into space.
"Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology."
Jackson's work from her and colleagues in the West Area Computing Unit gained widespread attention in the 2016 book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. In the subsequent film Hidden Figures, Jackson was played by Janelle Monáe.
NASA's DC headquarters "appropriately sits on 'Hidden Figures Way'", which Bridenstine said is a reminder Jackson is one of the "many incredible and talented professionals" who contributed to the agency's success.
"Hidden no more, we will continue to recognise the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds who have made NASA's successful history of exploration possible."
Jackson was first hired in 1951 at the then National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Hampton, Virginia, which was succeeded by NASA in 1958. She started as a research mathematician and worked under fellow 'Hidden Figure' Dorothy Vaughan where she was known as one of the human computers, NASA said.
When Jackson wanted to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer, she needed special permission to join her white peers in a training program that took place at a segregated high school. Once she completed her courses and earned her promotion, she became NASA's first African American engineer in 1958.
NASA said she worked hard to address the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.
Jackson retired from the Langley Research Center in 1985 and died in 2005. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019 along with 'Hidden Figures' colleagues Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden.
Jackson's daughter Carolyn Lewis said the family is honoured NASA is continuing to celebrate her legacy.
"She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA but throughout this nation," she said.
