Katherine Johnson (Photo courtesy of NASA)

Three decades after she retired from being a “human computer” at NASA, Katherine G. Johnson’s name will grace a new state-of-the-art facility at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

“We’re here to honor the legacy of one of the most admired and inspirational people ever associated with NASA,” Langley Director David Bowles said at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday. “I can’t imagine a better tribute to Mrs. Johnson’s character and accomplishments than this building that will bear her name.”

Johnson worked at NASA and its predecessor from 1953 to 1986, calculating the trajectories of spaceflights and blazing a path that broke down barriers of race and gender.

“At every fork, her talent, her hard work and her character pulled her toward her destiny,” said “Hidden Figures” author Margot Lee Shetterly on Friday. “At every turn, she made a choice to become the protagonist in her own story and then of ours.”

After Johnson’s story was disseminated through the book and movie, “Hidden Figures,” she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and attended the Academy Awards.

“I’ll be exceedingly honored,” 99-year-old Johnson said when asked how she felt about the possibility that the calculations to get humans to Mars might be done in a building named after herself. “The main thing is I liked what I was doing. I liked work. I liked the stars, and the stories we were telling. And it was a joy to contribute to the literature that would be coming out, but little did I think it would go this far.”