Her daughter, Valerie Risher, remembers them working
together on the weekends.
“There were lined yellow pads with pages and pages of
long-division calculations on the dining room table,”
she remembers.
But there was nothing tedious about the task.
“Math was like a puzzle to my mom,” Risher says. “It was a
challenge and fun, something she enjoyed doing.”
By Monday morning, they’d have the problem solved.
Hopkins’ work sites included several locations at the KSC.
“I worked at something called the tin shack for a while.”
It was a building on the runway that previously housed the
firefighting teams. In those days, the number of women
programmers was growing.
“The firefighters had moved out, so our programming
group moved in,” Hopkins recalls. “They had a nice big
bathroom for the men and a little one for the women.
So, since there were more ladies working there than
60: SPACE COAST LIVING | SPACECOASTLIVING.COM
HEIDI HILL
Hopkins, 90, examines one of the diagrams she has kept, reflecting on her career and
contributions to space flight safety.
An American flag that flew aboard the Columbia space shuttle is a prized gift from
the shuttle pilots given in recognition of her service to the mission. It is framed and
hanging in the office in her Vero Beach home.
Space shuttle Columbia, the first crewed shuttle flight, was a monumental achievement
for NASA, and Jean Hopkins was acknowledged for her contribution by a
medallion and certificate signed by the shuttle pilots.
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