As the only woman who served on the NASA engineering team
responsible for the moon landing, Barbara Johnson Crawford holds a place in the
history of space exploration. During the
1960s approximately 30% of Russian engineers were women compared to less than
2% of American engineers. Barbara had a 36-year
career at Rockwell International Space Division and was involved with many NASA
projects.
Education and Early
Career
Barbara, known as "Bobbie", was the first woman to graduate
with a degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois in
1946. After graduation she entered the
field of aerospace engineering at Rockwell International Space Division.
Some of Bobbie's early assignments included:
- Flight dynamics studies for programs such as
Dyna-Soar, the recovery of hypersonic gliders, lunar reentry vehicle research,
and orbital rendezvous
- Design and development of the Navaho missile
- Hound Dog air-to-ground guided wind tunnel programs,
performance and stability analysis, and aerodynamic loads
Within five years of employment at Rockwell Bobbie moved up
from the position of mathematician to senior engineer, aerodynamics.
Apollo Lunar Landing
Program
Bobbie began working on projects related to manned space
flight programs. She supervised the
design and evaluation of the entry monitor systems for the Apollo missions. In 1968 she was named manager of mission requirements
and evaluation on the Apollo Program.
This was the highest post ever held by a woman in her division. In the position she represented Rockwell in technical
meetings with NASA management and astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston.
She was responsible for more than 100 engineers in programs
such as:
- Lunar Landing including the Apollo 11 mission
landing on the moon
- Skylab
- Apollo-Soyuz (joint USA-USSR) programs
Beginning in 1973, Bobbie became manager of mission
requirements for the shuttle system. She
received a medallion in 1973 from NASA in recognition of the major role she
played in the Apollo 11 mission. Bobbie
also received the American Astronautical Society's "Dick Brower
Award," the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering's Outstanding
Engineer Merit Award.
Resources:
Engineering
at Illinois
Society
of Women Engineers
Walter P.
Reuther Library [image]
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Re: Barbara Crawford Johnson: Woman Pioneer in the U.S. Space Program
