NASA on Friday officially renamed a West Virginia facility in honor of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician whose work for NASA in the 1960s inspired the movie Hidden Figures.

The center is now known as the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility.

Staff at the Fairmont facility are responsible for making sure the software on NASAs high-profile missions runs safely and successfully, the centers website states .

Jim Bridenstine, NASAs administrator, said the facility carries on Johnsons legacy of mission-critical computations.

I am thrilled we are honoring Katherine Johnson in this way as she is a true American icon who overcame incredible obstacles and inspired so many, Bridenstine said in a statement on Friday .