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NASA to Hold Formal Ceremony to Rename WV Facility
By: Associated Press
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FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) – NASA is holding a formal ceremony to rename a West Virginia facility after a mathematician whose calculations helped astronauts return to Earth.
The ceremony is set for Tuesday in Fairmont for the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility.
Congress passed a bill allowing the name change and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Dec. 11.
In June, George Mason University named a building on its Manassas, Virginia, campus in Johnson’s honor. Johnson, who is now 100, worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton as a human “computer.”
Last year, Johnson was honored by alma mater West Virginia State University with a bronze statue and scholarship dedication.