Barbara Crawford Johnson facts for kids
Barbara Crawford Johnson (1925 - 2005) was an amazing American engineer who helped design spacecraft. She was the only woman on NASA's engineering team that worked on the mission to land on the Moon!
Barbara did important studies on how things fly (called flight dynamics), how to design missiles, and how air moves around objects (called aerodynamics). In 1968, she reached the highest position a woman had ever held in her department: manager of the Apollo Program.
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Barbara's Early Life
Barbara, often called "Bobbie," grew up in a small town in Sandoval, Illinois. She was one of six children in her family.
From a young age, Barbara loved flying. She was inspired by famous pilots like Amelia Earhart. She spent hours watching planes take off and land, and she even talked to pilots to learn how they flew. Her family really valued education, which helped her curious mind grow.
As a teenager, Barbara discovered she loved math and science. A local engineer building Sandoval's new high school stayed with her family. He taught Barbara about building plans, engineering words, and surveying. Her brother also became an electrical engineer, which made her even more interested in engineering. Barbara's parents fully supported her dream. She once said she didn't know girls weren't "supposed" to be engineers because her dad thought it was a great idea!
Barbara's Education
Paying for college was tough for Barbara's family. But thanks to scholarships and lower in-state tuition, Barbara enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1943. At that time, the university didn't offer degrees specifically in aeronautical engineering (which is about designing aircraft). So, Barbara studied general engineering. This gave her a strong understanding of many different engineering fields.
It wasn't always easy. Barbara faced challenges because she was a woman in engineering. People sometimes told her she wouldn't find a job because no one would hire a female engineer. This made her doubt herself, and she thought about switching to business. But her parents encouraged her to stick with engineering.
In her free time during college, Barbara was active at the Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. She even learned to fly a plane on her own! Her professors, Professor Spring and Professor Vawter, also greatly encouraged her. In 1946, after just three years, Barbara Crawford Johnson made history. She became the first woman to earn a Bachelor's degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Right after graduating, she had three job offers! She could teach at the university, build bridges in the East, or work for North American Aviation in California.
Barbara's Work
Because she loved flying, Barbara chose the job at North American Aviation. At first, she felt a bit unsure because her background was in general engineering, not aviation specifically.
Her first task was in aerophysics and aerodynamics. Barbara admitted she didn't even know what a "Mach number" was (which is about how fast something moves compared to the speed of sound). The work was simple but repetitive. Barbara bravely spoke to her supervisor. "I am an engineer, and I want a real engineer's job," she told him. Her supervisor laughed, and Barbara thought she was fired! But he came back with her manager, and they gave her a new, exciting challenge: designing a supersonic inlet for a ramjet engine.
Working with experienced designers taught Barbara a lot. This opened doors to more projects, including flight dynamics for the Dyna-Soar (a spaceplane), recovering hypersonic gliders, and lunar reentry vehicle research. She kept learning by taking graduate classes at UCLA to stay on top of her challenging projects.
Barbara worked in the aerospace industry for 36 years! She only took time off when she and her husband had their son.
Amazing Projects
Barbara worked on many incredible projects that shaped space exploration:
- The Navaho Missile: Her work on ramjet design led her to the Navaho program. This was a powerful cruise missile. Barbara's knowledge grew in rocket boosts and how things fly. She even calculated the first boost trajectory (the path a rocket takes) by hand in the country! She ended up overseeing the entire aerodynamic performance of the missile.
- The Hound Dog Air-to-Ground Missile: This missile was named after Elvis Presley's hit song! Barbara helped design many different versions of it. She was asked to brief 30 to 40 officers on its performance. This was a big deal because it was unusual for women to travel for work back then. Barbara said it "kind of broke the ice," and after that, she traveled a lot for her job!
- The Apollo Lunar Landing Program: Barbara worked tirelessly, day and night, on the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. She focused on trajectories (the paths spacecraft take) and aeroheating (how hot things get when moving through the air). Her group helped create elliptical orbits (oval-shaped paths) instead of just circular ones. She also helped plan for what to do if things went wrong during a mission.
- Lunar Landing Ideas: Barbara believed her team should have mapped the Moon for future explorers. She thought the Moon could be used as a base and a launch site for even more space missions.
- Skylab: Skylab was the first space station the United States operated all by itself. Barbara worked on the command service module, which was a key part of the spacecraft.
- Apollo-Soyuz: In 1975, this was the first time the U.S. and Soviet Union worked together in space! An Apollo spacecraft docked with the Soviet Soyuz 19. Barbara recalled the different air systems used by each country's spacecraft.
- Space Shuttle: Barbara was in charge of analyzing missions for the Space Shuttle system. She worked on trajectories, similar to her work on Apollo. She even worked with astronaut Fred Haise, who was a pilot on Apollo 8.
Awards and Recognition
Barbara received many awards for her amazing work in engineering:
- 1973: NASA astronaut Fred Haise Jr. wrote her a special letter praising her work.
- 1974: She received the Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers.
- 1975: She got the Distinguished Alumni Merit Award from the University of Illinois College of Engineering.
- 1976: She won the Dirk Brouwer Award from the American Astronautical Society.
She also received a special medallion from NASA to celebrate her important contributions to the Apollo 11 mission, which landed humans on the Moon!
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