Ai Chun Fang (1923-2017) was one of the first Chinese women hired as an engineer and mathematician at NASA. Her work contributed to monumental projects such the Apollo 11 mission, which landed the first man on the moon. Born in Futshing, China, Fang excelled academically at a young age. After graduating from Hwa Nan High School, she attended Sun Yat-sen University and was a four-time Lin Sen Scholarship recipient. She graduated top of her class with a B.S. in mathematics in 1944. Fang moved to Taiwan in 1947 and began teaching physics and calculus at Cheng Kung University, as well as at a high school level. In 1956, she moved to the U.S. with her husband, Chao Kai Fang, and their six children. Working hard to complete her studies while also caring for her family, she earned her M.S. from George Washington University in 1962, developing expertise in astrophysics, management and statistics for engineering, and control and data systems.
Shortly after graduating, Fang was hired by NASA to work at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She started as a mathematician within the Data Systems Division and worked in multiple other divisions during her time there. Fang came to NASA in the midst of the Space Race. Competition with the Soviet Union heightened the political urgency behind the Apollo program, a massive undertaking that sought to establish American leadership in space by being the first to land humans on the moon. Fang was soon creating equations for satellite technology as well as for the program and its most famous Apollo 11 mission. She and her fellow Goddard staff were responsible for the program’s data tracking and communications network, overseeing and relaying massive amounts of critical information across the globe and through outer space. Their communications system was also critical for Project Mercury (1958-1963), the country’s first program to send humans into space, and Project Gemini (1961-1966), which assessed procedures and technology later used in the Apollo missions. In 1969, Fang’s work on the Apollo 11 mission helped achieve the goal of putting astronauts on the moon and returning them to Earth, astounding the world. She received a plaque for her critical contributions to this historic mission, as well as the center’s Performance Award and Group Award in 1969.
After her work on the Apollo mission, Fang continued to advance in her career. She began working in NASA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters in the mid 1970s, where she took on engineering and managerial positions in data management and information systems. Her numerous detailed reports from her time at NASA have been referenced by researchers decades later. Fang forged a path at NASA despite the fact that women were outnumbered and overshadowed by men in the sphere of aerospace engineering. Women of color faced even greater discrimination, and their vital contributions remained virtually unknown until decades later through the film Hidden Figures (2016). Fang was also a working mother, like many other women at NASA, with six children to care for at home while performing her indispensable work. Even now, Fang and countless other pioneering female NASA employees working behind the scenes have largely remained “hidden figures,” never receiving the level of public recognition and acclaim that now household names such as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did for their role in the Apollo 11 mission.
In addition to breaking barriers as a Chinese woman at NASA, Fang always exceeded expectations in the quality of her work and her leadership abilities. Her exceptional performance was recognized through her eventual promotion to GS-15 and the multiple accolades she earned for her work on Apollo 11. After a long career of outstanding leadership and scientific brilliance at NASA, Fang retired in 1991. She passed away in 2017, leaving behind an impressive and inspirational legacy in the world of aerospace engineering.
By Nikolai Gottesdiener, Bloomberg Arts Intern at MOCA