Katherine Johnson By facebooker_1223890621518435 Aug 26, 1918 Birth 1936 Graduation 1953 Debut at the NASA 1961 Sent the first American in Space 1962 Sent John Glenn in orbit around earth 1969 Apollo 11 1970 Save Apollo 13 1986 Retired from NASA 2015 Obama gives her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 Feb 24, 2020 Death