Jack Black's mother made a remarkable contribution in rescuing the Apollo 13 astronauts

Jack Black, renowned for his dynamic performances in film and music, has become a household name due to his charisma and versatility. Yet, it appears greatness runs in the family—Jack's mother, Judith Love Cohen, was equally talented. Judith Love Cohen had many facets to her personality. She danced with the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, wrote children's books, and, notably, played a crucial role in the space program, according to USA Today. A few years ago, a Facebook post detailing how Cohen saved the Apollo 13 astronauts during a crisis gained significant attention.

There was also a viral Reddit post shared by u/holyfruits that talked about how Cohen played a key role in the creation of the Abort-Guidance System that helped bring the Apollo 13 astronauts back home. So devoted was she to her work that she refused to take a day off, even while in labor. Cohen made a printout of a problem she was trying to solve at work and took it to the hospital with her. Sometime later, Cohen called her boss to tell him that she had found a solution and proceeded to give birth to Jack Black. Although some might view this as mere celebrity publicity, the stories of Black's mother are indeed true.

Black's half-brother Niel Siegel revealed in a heartfelt remembrance post about their amazing mother that the stories about Cohen were all true, according to USC Viterbi. He also wrote, "Her engineering career included roles on the teams that created the guidance computer for the Minuteman missile, the Abort-Guidance System in the Lunar Excursion Module for the Apollo space program, the ground system for the Tracking Data, and Relay System Satellite (recently retired after nearly 40 years of operations on orbit!) among others." Her obituary in The Los Angeles Times stated that she had a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of South California. Cohen passed away on July 25, 2016, after being diagnosed with cancer. Siegel wrote about how she was just a "couple of weeks shy of her 83rd birthday" in the remembrance.

Even though Cohen had an impressive resume, she considered her work on the Apollo program as the most crucial role of her entire career. The remarkable woman was present when the astronauts who returned thanked members of the TRW facility located at Redondo Beach. Black himself shared a photo in 2019 of his mother with the Pioneer spacecraft on Instagram and wrote in the caption about all of the roles she played in her life. Cohen spent the last few years of her engineering work at the systems engineering unit of the Hubble Space Telescope facility. Many will find it inspiring that she was a staunch advocate for improving the treatment of female employees at the workplace.