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Person

JoAnn Morgan

The instrumentation controller for the Apollo 11 launch, and the only woman in the firing room when it lifted off.

  • Revision: 1
  • Dates: 1958-01-01 (year precision)
  • Last reviewed: 2026-08-14
  • Status: Career spanning more than 45 years at NASA

Orientation

Role: Instrumentation controller, Apollo 11 launch; later senior executive at Kennedy Space Center

Operator or programme: NASA Kennedy Space Center

Geography: Cape Canaveral, Florida

Chronology

  1. year precisionJoAnn Morgan enters the record.

Related records

  • worked on

    Who was watching the instruments when the Saturn V left the pad?

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-16 (day precision)

  • relates to

    The people at each end of the same flight.

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-16 (day precision)

  • contemporary with

    Two women on the critical path of the same mission.

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-16 (day precision)

Inspect the record2 assertions, each with its source
  • JoAnn Morgan was the instrumentation controller for Apollo 11 and the only woman in the launch firing room at liftoff. She began her space career in 1958 at the age of 17 as a student intern with the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Cape Canaveral, and was certified as a Measurement and Instrumentation Engineer and a Data Systems Engineer.

    Source class: space agency recordNASA — Rocket Fuel in Her Blood: The Story of JoAnn MorganView the source

  • Her NASA career spanned over 45 years; she was the first woman at NASA to win a Sloan Fellowship, the first woman division chief, and the first woman senior executive at Kennedy Space Center, serving as director of Payload Projects Management and director of Safety and Mission Assurance.

    Source class: space agency recordNASA — Rocket Fuel in Her Blood: The Story of JoAnn MorganView the source

CorrectionsNone recorded

No corrections recordedThis record has not been corrected since it was published.