JoAnn Morgan, Aerospace Engineer

JoAnn Hardin Morgan was born in 1940, during a time when women were expected to stay home, keep house and raise kids, while the husband was out in the world making a living.

JoAnn loved math and science, and entered high school during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were trying to outdo each other in rocket technology. JoAnn watched rocket launches from near her home in Florida. But it was when Explorer 1, the first United States satellite, was launched into space on January 31, 1958 that she became determined to be a part of the space program. It’s not the kind of career women aspired to in those days. That was a man’s field.

JoAnn got her chance when she responded to an ad by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency looking for student Engineer’s Aides for the summer, the year she graduated from High School. She applied and was accepted.

That intern job proved to be a stepping stone to a career at the newly formed NASA. She began working there while earning math and science degrees at California’s Stanford University. Her NASA career lasted for 45 years, and helped pave the way for more women scientists and engineers to enter the space program.

The photo above was taken during the launch of Apollo 11. JoAnn was the only woman in the sea of men in the Mission Control room.

The photo below depicts JoAnn (right) with STS-112 Pilot Pamela Melroy (left) and Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus (center) after the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis