Published: Feb. 10, 2021

The BOLD Center and the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences will host a special presentation by NASA's Dr. Christine Darden, "The Four 'P's to NASA". She will be speaking as a part of Black History Month celebrations in the college, sharing her fascinating life experiences as an engineer. The event is free and open to all with online registration now open.

Christine Darden at desk at NASA Langley

Christine Darden at NASA Langley Research Center in 1973. (Cedit: NASA)

Starting in 1967, Darden was one of many women working as “human computers” at NASA’s Langley Research Center, performing calculations that enabled the Apollo spaceflight missions. That was the start of a 40-year career at NASA where Darden eventually served as the deputy program manager of The TU-144 Experiments Program – an element of NASA's High Speed Research Program. In 1999, she was appointed as the director in the Program Management Office of the Aerospace Performing Center where she was responsible for Langley research in air traffic management and other aeronautics programs managed at other NASA Centers. Darden also served as technical consultant on numerous government and private projects, and is the author of more than 50 publications in the field of high lift wing design in supersonic flow, flap design, sonic boom prediction, and sonic boom minimization.