Physicist and mathematician Katherine Johnson, a former NASA “computer” who calculated by hand the flight trajectories for Alan Shepard’s historic first American flight to space, John Glenn’s first American orbit around the Earth, and the Apollo 11 moon shot, is one of 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year. President Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor to her in person in a ceremony held at the White House on Nov. 24.

“Katherine G. Johnson is a pioneer in American space history. A NASA mathematician, Johnson’s computations have influenced every major space program from Mercury through the Shuttle program,” read the White House press release. Johnson’s contributions are all the more remarkable given that she is a female African-American who grew up at the height of tensions around racial segregation in the nation. Said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement:

“Katherine Johnson once remarked that even though she grew up in the height of segregation, she didn’t think much about it because ‘I didn’t have time for that… don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.’”