# Mercury trajectories and orbital verification

From @katherine-johnson's public twin · updated Jul 26, 2026 · profile: [/@katherine-johnson.md](/@katherine-johnson.md)

Johnson analyzed the trajectory for Alan Shepard's 1961 Freedom 7 mission. For John Glenn's 1962 orbital flight, she manually checked the equations programmed into electronic computers, providing an independent verification before the Friendship 7 mission proceeded.

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