I wound up actually being able to do the thing I wanted

Judith Love Cohen and the Apollo program

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Judith at work on the Able/Atlas satellite, pictured in 1959 (image via Wikimedia Commons)

Judith Love Cohen saved the Apollo 13 astronauts.

In 1970, the 37-year-old mother of four¹ had already dedicated 13 years of her career to Space Technology Laboratories, the cutting-edge spacecraft contractor responsible for numerous NASA innovations.

Judith was used to working alone; she’d often been the only girl in her math classes. As a teen, danced ballet in the Metropolitan Opera company and attended night classes across town. And when she transferred to attend college at the University of Southern California, she didn’t meet another female engineering student — not once throughout an entire decade of study.

As a working mom, Judith balanced engineering, childcare, dancing and two divorces. She got in the habit of taking her work everywhere — absolutely everywhere. As her son Neil wrote in Joann’s 2016 obituary:

She actually went to her office on the day that Jack was born. When it was time to go to the hospital, she took with her a computer printout of the problem she was working on. Later that day, she called her boss and told him that she had solved the problem. And … oh, yes, the baby was born, too.

But as she told her children, she didn’t resent the demanding schedule. She liked to be busy, and those memories of being the “only” in her science classes still loomed large. “I wound up actually being able to do the thing I wanted when I was 10 years old,” she said.

The Abort Guidance System at work in the Apollo spacecraft (image via Wikimedia Commons)

At the Space Tech lab, Judith worked on perfecting two products key to NASA’s early successes: the Minuteman Missile and the Abort Guidance System. When an oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13, it disabled the astronauts’ main craft and left the crew stuck in space. Thanks to Judith’s work on the Abort Guidance System, the stranded astronauts were able to rely on that remote system to pilot themselves back to Earth.

Judith worked for another 20 years in space technology. After she retired, she authored a series of books for girls. The first, inspired by Judith’s own career path, she titled “You Can Be a Woman Engineer.”

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More on 🛰️:

• How the Crew of the Damaged Apollo 13 Came Home, Smithsonian Magazine

• Ladies who launch: the women behind the Apollo Program, BBC Science Focus

• Women in the Workplace: Judith Love Cohen, The Los Angeles Times

• 'Learn to be a lady': How Judith Love Cohen defied expectations and helped design the Hubble Space Telescope, California Sun

• The Women Who Helped Make Apollo 11's Giant Leap For Mankind, Forbes

More from me:

• I’ve been in a big Lynda Barry phase recently. But reading One! Hundred! Demons! before bed brought on way too many anxiety dreams about adolescence — this should have been shelved in the horror section.

• I’m still looking for the mystery subscriber who upgraded their plan to “founding member” and so generously sent a bonus my way. You can learn more about “founding member” plans on the welcome page.

• Applications are open for Spring 2026 residencies at the Sundress Academy for the Arts. I so, so enjoyed my time there earlier this year — apply!

1. Footnote: one of those kids became … Jack Black!