A Whole New World Historically, Dahlgren specialized in weapons. But Dahlgren—and the world—was changing. In fact, it was a thrilling time to be working in STEM.

The 1950s ushered in a new era of space exploration. It was during this decade that America’s first space agency, NASA, was created. Money and brainpower were poured into new space technologies. The first satellites were blasted into space, followed by the first astronauts. By the end of the 1960s, humans were walking on the moon.

At Dahlgren, West found herself in the midst of this fascinating work. New satellites were beaming back all kinds of information about Earth and our solar system. She spent her days poring over this data. She analyzed the orbits of far-off planets, like Pluto and Neptune. It was groundbreaking science—and painstaking work, involving billions of calculations.

But West wasn’t just earning her place as a pioneer in space exploration and technology. She was also carving out a path in a brand-new field: computers.

In the 1950s, few people had ever seen a computer. Fewer still understood how to use one. But the massive amounts of data collected at Dahlgren could not be processed by human brains alone. So Dahlgren got its first computer. It became West’s job to figure out how to program the giant machine. (Back then, a computer that today would fit in your backpack took up an entire room.)

“It was exciting,” remembers West. “I was in a whole new world at Dahlgren.”

Reread the section “A Whole New World.” Check the box next to the statement
that BEST expresses the central idea of this section.
A. NASA was created in the 1950s.
B. Gladys West worked with satellite data at Dahlgren.
C. Computers were a new technology in the 1950s.
D. The 1950s were a time of great technological advancement in America.