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Space Pioneer JoAnn Morgan Guest Speaker for Women’s History Month Event

“Nevertheless, She Persisted,” was the theme of this year’s Women’s History Month event, hosted by the Networking Opportunities for Women organization at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Keynote speaker was U.S. space program trailblazer JoAnn Morgan, former associate deputy director of the center.

Morgan began her space career in summer 1958, at the young age of 17, as a student intern with the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. She was the first female engineer at Kennedy and the only woman, among a sea of men, who was present in the firing room during NASA’s Saturn V/Apollo 11 launch to the Moon.

JoAnn Morgan and Charlie Blackwell-Thompson speak during a Women's History Month event at Kennedy Space Center.
JoAnn Morgan, at right, keynote speaker during a Women’s History Month event at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on March 27, speaks with Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the first female launch director, who will lead countdown and launch for NASA’s Exploration Mission-1.
Photo credit: NASA/Leif Heimbold

In the early days of her 40-plus-year career with NASA, she had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects. She developed algorithms for a Mars trajectory, worked in the Vehicle Assembly Building and helped develop the space shuttle launch processing system central data subsystem. She also worked on site activation for the Launch Control Center firing room consoles.  

“Kennedy Space Center had an environment that allowed women to thrive,” Morgan said. “There were no dull days. I learned something from every experience.”

Morgan said she had supervisors who were very supportive of her efforts. One of her personal credos is the word “ARE,” which stands for acceptance, respect and equality.

She was pictured in national magazines during the 1960s as the only female on the Apollo launch team among hundreds of men. Morgan also was on the launch team for the Apollo-Soyuz and Skylab launches.

She served in several positions at Kennedy, including director of Payload Projects Management, and director of Safety and Mission Assurance, one of the last two people who verified the space shuttle was ready to launch. She was the first woman to serve in an executive position, associate deputy director of the center. After serving as the director of External Relations and Business Development, she retired from NASA in August 2003.

Photo of Sally Ride on space shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission. She was the first female U.S. astronaut.
Sally Ride broke through the ultimate glass ceiling, blasting into orbit on the space shuttle Challenger as a member of the STS-7 crew on June 18, 1983. Ride was the first female NASA astronaut.
Photo credit: NASA

Her numerous awards and recognition include induction into the Florida Women Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Kurt H. Debus Award, as well as two meritorious executive awards from President Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1998. In 2001, Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed her one of the state’s new university trustees, assigned to the University of Florida’s Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and the University of West Florida’s Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. She is a tireless advocate for women in science and engineering.

Though born in Huntsville, Alabama, Morgan grew up in Brevard County, Florida. She attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She went on to earn a Master of Science in management from California’s Stanford University.

“There have been many heroines in our nation’s history who have broken down barriers with grit and determination, and persevered in the face of challenge,” said Deputy Center Director Janet Petro. “During an era when most civil rights and equal rights called attention to our nation’s struggle, the women of NASA were finding unique opportunities.”

Petro said their persistence built hope for the future of their daughters and many of us here today. NASA has a longstanding legacy of inclusion, and its commitment to diversity in the workplace is well recognized.

Mae Jemison suits up for the STS-47 mission aboard Endeavour. Jemison was the first African-American astronaut in space.
Mae Jemison suits up for her flight aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-47 Spacelab-J mission. Jemison serviced as a science mission specialist and was the first African-American woman in space. The mission launched Sept. 12, 1992.
Photo credit: NASA

Petro cited the recent movie, “Hidden Figures,” which focused on the experiences of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, three African-American women working as human computers during the early years of NASA’s space program. They faced daunting challenges, but nevertheless, they persisted.

Forty years ago, in preparation for the space shuttle era, NASA selected six women to officially train among a new astronaut class, Astronaut Group 8. Among them were Sally Ride, Kathryn Sullivan and Shannon Lucid. Ride was the first U.S. woman astronaut in space. She broke through the ultimate glass ceiling, blasting into orbit on the space shuttle Challenger as part of the STS-7 crew on June 18, 1983.

Mae Jemison was the first African-American in space. She flew aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-47 Spacelab J mission that launched Sept. 12, 1992. Sullivan was the first women to perform a spacewalk, during STS-41G aboard space shuttle Challenger on Oct. 11, 1984. Lucid was the first U.S. woman astronaut on the Russian space station Mir. She launched aboard space shuttle Atlantis on STS-76 on March 22, 1996, the third Shuttle/Mir4 docking mission. At the time, Lucid set the U.S. longest record of 188 days in space.

NASA astronaut Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic-American in space, when she launched on space shuttle Discovery’s STS-56 mission on April 8, 1993. After retiring from NASA, her path led her to become director of the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson was the first female commander of the International Space Station. In 2017, Whitson clocked 665 days in space, more than any other American, and the most for any nationality. 

“NASA’s tradition of hiring incredible women continues at Kennedy Space Center,” Petro said. “Just when you think there are few records left to break, women are still breaking down barriers at NASA today.”

JoAnn Morgan is the only woman engineer in the firing room for the liftoff of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969.
In the Firing Room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, members of the launch team listen to congratulatory remarks by Vice President Agnew following the successful liftoff of Apollo 11. In the center of the photograph (see red arrow) is JoAnn Morgan, the only woman engineer among scores of male counterparts.
Photo credit: NASA

Today, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is NASA’s first female launch director. As the launch director for the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, Blackwell-Thompson will oversee the countdown and liftoff of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft on its first uncrewed flight test, Exploration Mission-1. Recently, she led a firing room tanking simulation for the new EM-1 countdown procedures.

“I am honored to serve NASA as the center’s first female deputy director,” Petro said. “Nearly 50 percent of Kennedy’s management team are women.”

Joining her on the executive team are many accomplished female professionals. They are Barbara Brown, chief technologist; Amanda Mitskevich, Launch Services Program manager; Kathy Leuders, Commercial Crew Program manager; Josie Burnett, director of Exploration Research and Technology; Vanessa Stromer, Information Technology and Communications director; Nancy Bray, Spaceport Integration and Services director; Susan Kroskey, chief financial officer; Cheryl Hurst, Communications and Public Engagement director; and Digna Carballosa, Human Resources director.

Through the years, NASA and Kennedy have made concerted efforts to increase the number of women civil servants. In the 1980s, about 21.5 percent of Kennedy’s civil servant workforce were women. Fast forward to 2018, and Kennedy’s female civil servants represent 32.6 percent of the center’s total workforce.   

“The women who were first yesterday, opened doors for us as we enter into a new era of space exploration,” Petro said.