Melba Roy Mouton Biography

American mathematician

Melba Roy Mouton (April 28, 1929 – June 25, 1990) was an American mathematician who served as *istant Chief of Research Programs at NASA's Trajectory and Geodynamics Division in the 1960s and headed a group of NASA mathematicians called "computers". She served as Head Mathematician for Echo Satellites 1 and 2 before becoming Head Computer Programmer and then Program Production Section Chief at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Early life and education

Melba Louise Chloe was born in 1929, in Fairfax, Virginia to Rhodie and Edna Chloe (née Robinson). She graduated from Howard University in 1950 with a master's degree in mathematics, after receiving a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in physics. While at Howard, Mouton was president of the Kelly Miller Chapter of Future Teachers of America and a member of the NAACP, the Mathematics Club, and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She also was on the Dean's Honor Roll for four years, and was selected for the 1949-1950 Who’s Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges.

Career

Melba Roy - Female Computer at NASA 1964

She started working for NASA in 1959, after working for the Army Map Service and the Census Bureau. The following year, Echo 1 was put into orbit, and Mouton led a team of NASA mathematicians (known as "computers") in tracking its orbit. While at Goddard, Mouton was an instructor for a series of seminars on A Programming Language held at Watson Research Labs. In a NASA symposium, she published a paper about the importance of investing in thorough, descriptive program do*entation for projects which are to be maintainable over time. She was also prominently featured alongside some of her African American colleagues in an adverti*t in the Afro American designed to spotlight NASA's diversity. Mouton received both an Apollo Achievement Award and an Exceptional Performance Award from NASA before she retired in 1973.

Personal life

Mouton had three children and was married twice, first to Wardell Roy and later to Webster Mouton. She died in Silver Spring, Maryland, on June 25, 1990, of a brain tumor at the age of 61.

Commemoration

In May 2022, lunar mountain Mons Mouton (previously known informally as Leibnitz Beta of the Leibnitz plateau) at the lunar south polar region was named officially in her honor. It is scheduled to become the landing site of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).

Proposed landing site of Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or:VIPER

References