Jack Black is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, but his mother is also rather famous in her own right.
The comedian's mother, Judith Love Cohen, was a jack of all trades - having been an aerospace engineer and a former ballet dancer.
For a while, there has been a story floating around the internet about the work Cohen did for NASA.
Advert
And the speculation is very much true; as Judith did help them with a very special mission.
Black's mom worked with NASA to design the Abort-Guidance System that helped bring the Apollo 13 astronauts back to Earth.
The voyage is certainly an infamous one, as it became the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space programme and the third that was meant to land not the moon.
Advert
However, it did not reach its intended location as disaster struck shortly after it set off back in 1970.
A devastating explosion ended up damaging the oxygen tanks, meaning the operating systems couldn't work and the crew were left stranded.
But thankfully, the team on the ground were able to get them home safely - with Judith playing a huge part in it.
Judith's story went viral on Reddit, with one user penning: "Judith Love Cohen was American aerospace engineer who helped create Abort-Guidance System that rescued Apollo 13 astronauts.
Advert
"When she went into labor, she took her work to the hospital, printed out the problem, called her boss, and said she finished it before giving birth to Jack Black."
Truly the stuff of legends right?
Well, Neil Siegel, Judith's son and Black's half-brother, confirmed that this wild story actually happened in a 2016 obituary.
Speaking of his mom's impressive career, Siegel 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."
Advert
Siegel went on to talk about that particular day involving Apollo 13 and Black's birth.
"She actually went to her office on the day that Jack was born," he wrote.
"When it was time to go to the hospital, she took with her a computer printout of the problem she was working on.
Advert
"Later that day, she called her boss and told him that she had solved the problem. And . . . oh, yes, the baby was born, too."
And the story left people pretty surprised, as one person wrote: "F**k, that is interesting."
"Totally awesome. Not just interesting." another said.
While a third said: "I don't even know which part of that sentence is the biggest flex."
Judith died in 2016 at the age of 82, with Black paying tribute to her with a post on Instagram on Mother's Day last year.
Black shared a photo of Judith seemingly hard at work in a lab, as penned: "It’s true…my mom was a bad-ass aerospace engineer…and also a loving mother…I miss you mama!"
Topics: Jack Black, NASA, Space