VANIER: As Megastar Beyonce right there performing her hit "XO" on Monday to open a memorial for late NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. About 20,000 filled at the Los Angeles Staples Center, including Bryant's family, including friends, fans. They heard personal stories from entertainers, sports legends and wife Vanessa Bryant remembered him as a devoted husband and father. Kobe and Gianna Bryant died last month in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of seven other people. The two were laid to rest earlier this month near the family's Church in Corona Del Mar in California. An African-American woman who helped change the trajectory of space exploration has died at the age of 101. Katherine Johnson was a little known mathematician who worked at NASA during at time when people were segregated by race and limited by gender. In the days before high-tech computers, she was the computer, calculating equations by hand. Among her many milestones, she determined the trajectory for the 1969 "Apollo 11Mission" that first put humans on the moon. For decades, her work went unrecognized. And then in 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine G. Johnson refused to be limited by society's expectations of her gender and race while expanding the boundaries of humanity's reach.</s>VANIER: Johnson's story went global after the book "Hidden Figures" was turned into a film.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you can find me that for a frame for this data.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With algorithm yes, sir. I prefer it.</s>VANIER: U.S. officials and lawmakers are remembering her as an American hero and an inspiration to women of color. But in life, Johnson stayed humble saying, "We always worked as a team. It's never just one person". And that is THE BRIEF for today. I'm Cyril Vanier. "WORLD SPORT" is up next.
Pioneering NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson Dies At 101.