Due in no small part to the influence of powerful Texans, including now Vice President Lyndon Johnson, NASA decided to move the heart of its space program to Houston. Many of the Langley employees—the former NACA nuts, including Katherine Johnson—were going to have to make hard choices. They had come to love their home by the sea, from the abundant fresh seafood to the mild winters to the water that surrounded the lonely finger of land that had become such a part of them. Soon, they knew, following the president’s lead into space might mean choosing between the place that had given them a
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