00:00The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches this weekend.
00:04But do you know Nancy?
00:05I'm going to tell you a little bit about Nancy Grace Roman, and I promise it will soon become
00:10clear why her name was chosen for the mission.
00:13So Nancy was an astronomer who lived from 1925 to 2018, and in those 93 years, she accomplished
00:20a lot.
00:21In 1959, just one year after NASA officially began, Nancy signed on as the agency's first
00:27ever chief of astronomy.
00:28So she not only created NASA's astronomy program, but by taking on this role, she also
00:34became the first woman in an executive position at the agency.
00:37Now this major step forward came after years of research in astronomy, both during and after
00:43her graduate studies.
00:44Even as she progressed as a leader at NASA, she continued conducting astronomy research
00:48outside of the agency.
00:50Her passion for exploring the universe just ran deep.
00:53Nancy knew who she was from an early age.
00:55Nancy knew she wanted to be an astronomer since she was a kid.
00:59At 11, she started an astronomy club for her and her classmates.
01:03She checked out every astronomy book the public library had to offer.
01:06And her parents were very supportive.
01:09Her mother was a music teacher, and her father was a geophysicist.
01:12And both really nurtured her love of science and nature from an early age.
01:16Now, when Nancy first went to college, it was during World War II.
01:19It was also at a time when many colleges didn't allow women in, and it was also a time when
01:24many colleges were segregated.
01:26It was a very strange and difficult time.
01:29Now, Nancy continued pursuing astronomy through undergrad and into graduate school, where she
01:34began to find more and more research opportunities, exploring the cosmos as she discovered what areas
01:38of astronomy research might fit her best.
01:41And upon graduating, she continued pushing forward with this research.
01:45After agreeing to create and lead NASA's astronomy program in 1959, she spent many years at the
01:51agency, working to continue pushing astronomy science forward.
01:55So, as the nation was focused on human spaceflight with Apollo in the 60s and 70s, Nancy was fighting
02:01to continue funding for science missions.
02:03Perhaps one of her biggest claims to fame, which earned her the nickname the Mother of
02:07Hubble, Nancy played a critical role in making the Hubble Space Telescope happen.
02:12She worked between astronomers, engineers, politicians, executives, and more to make sure that Hubble
02:18was built, funded, and launched.
02:20And Hubble opened up our eyes to the universe for what was kind of the first time, delivering
02:27incredible images of the universe like we'd never seen it before.
02:31So, while we excitedly anticipate the next big space telescope, we can look back and we
02:37can thank Nancy for paving the way.
02:39Thanks, Nancy.
