Annie Easley (1933 – 2011) worked for 34 years as a mathematician, computer programmer, and rocket scientist for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), pioneering research that made modern spaceflight possible. If there was anything harder than rocket science however, it was overcoming the discrimination that Annie faced as an African-American woman of her time. As a young girl, Annie’s mother taught her, “you can be anything you want to be, but you have to work at it.” Taking this advice to heart, Annie graduated high school as valedictorian at the top of her class, and was admitted into…