On orders from NASA, the Space Task Group is formed, drawing its staff mainly from Flight Research and PARD. The group’s assignment is Project Mercury, culminating in a manned orbit around the Earth. Katherine, a widow with a college-aged daughter, is less socially active than she used to be. However, at church, she meets Jim Johnson, who had served in both the navy and the army and now works as a mail carrier. The two quickly start courting.

At Flight Research, the loss of staff has meant increased responsibilities for Katherine. By 1959, she is doing most of the work putting together a report on the correct launch direction for a manned rocket. Reentry must put the space capsule, with the astronaut inside, down in the ocean at a preselected location, for pickup by ships standing by. Calculations have to take account of Earth’s gravity, its rotation, its slightly flattened shape, and many other factors. When the report is finished, the division chief agrees that she should be listed as a coauthor. By now, she and Jim Johnson have married, so her name appears on the report as Katherine G. Johnson.