NASA names a Moon mountain after Black mathematician and ‘hidden figure’
Reported by Elizabeth Howell
NASA named a huge Moon landmark after a prominent Black mathematician who worked at the agency during the ‘hidden figures’ era. The name of Melba Mouton will be designated by NASA on a Delaware-sized flat Moon mountain near the water-rich lunar south pole. The Moon’s south pole is a target of Artemis program astronauts, who are expected to land as soon as 2025. The mountain is one of 13 candidate landing sites for Artemis III, and is adjacent to where the agency’s icehunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will touch down in 2024 or so. It was the VIPER team who proposed Mons Mouton’s name.