House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas released a statement praising NASA’s decisionto name its headquarters after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at the Agency.
“I applaud the decision to name the NASA headquarters building after Mary Jackson. During her career, she faced tremendous obstacles to success. She became the first female African American engineer at NASA, but to do so, she had to request special permission to attend classes at a segregated school. Along with the other Hidden Figures, Mary Jackson was not only a key part of America’s achievements in the space race, but she also paved the way for future women and people of color at NASA. I was honored to work with Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson last year to write and pass a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Mary Jackson, along with Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden, and all the female computers, mathematicians, and engineers of the space race. Naming the NASA headquarters after Mary Jackson honors her achievements and celebrates the diversity, too long unacknowledged, that makes our space program the best in the world.”