Yes it is real. Black women helped to build the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). And a new video – Hidden Figures – is trying to tell the story. The first trailer of the film was released today on the internet by 20th Century Fox.
NASA is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.
Hidden Figures is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe)—brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.
The real Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (born August 26, 1918) is an African-American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician who contributed to the United States’ aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Known for accuracy in computerized celestial navigation, she calculated the trajectory for Project Mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. She was awarded the National Medal of Freedom in 2015.
The film is due in the theatres on the 13th of January, 2017.
