Mouton, Melba Roy
1929-1990 · Contribution: 1959-1973
NASA computer programming and trajectory analysis; coded programs to compute spacecraft locations and trajectories and produced orbital element timetables for the Echo 1 and 2 satellites
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Head mathematician for the Echo satellites and later Head Computer Programmer and Assistant Chief of Research Programs at Goddard; received an Apollo Achievement Award. The lunar mountain Mons Mouton (IAU, 2023) is named for her.
Life & background
African-American mathematician and computer programmer born April 28, 1929 in Fairfax, VA; M.S. in mathematics, Howard University (1950). Joined NASA in 1959; retired 1973. Died June 25, 1990.
Sources
- NASA; Smithsonian (Chandra)
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