MOVIES: HISTORY’S GREATEST “HIDDEN FIGURES” BEHIND THE APOLLO MISSIONS

Everyone knows about the Apollo missions.  We can all immediately list the bold male astronauts who took those first giant steps for humankind in space:  John Glenn, Alan Shepard and Neil Armstrong.  Yet, remarkably, Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson’s are names not taught in school or even known to most people -- even though their daring, smarts and powerful roles as NASA’s ingenious “human computers” were indispensable to advances that allowed for human space flight.  These women are the unsung and unlikely heroes of the space race –female mathematicians who blazed multiple trails, trails towards greater diversity in science, equality in America, for human mathematical achievement and to launch John Glenn into mesmerizing orbit at more than 17, 000 miles per hour as he circled three times around the globe in space.
             
“Hidden Figures” uncovers the incredible, untold yet true story of a brilliant group of women who changed the foundations of the country for the better -- by aiming for the stars.  The film recounts the vital history of an elite team of black female mathematicians at NASA who helped win the all-out space race against America’s rivals in the Soviet Union and, at the same time, sent the quest for equal rights and opportunity rocketing forwards.

At last, the story of a visionary trio of women who crossed gender, race and professional lines on their way to pioneering cosmic travel comes to the screen starring Oscar®-nominee Taraji P. Henson (Empire, Benjamin Button, Hustle And Flow), Academy Award® winner Octavia Spencer (Allegiant, Fruitvale Station, The Help), singer Janelle Monáe making her motion picture debut and two time Oscar® winner Kevin Costner (Black Or White, Field Of Dreams, Dancing With Wolves).

MOVIES: KEVIN COSTNER BREAKS CHAINS OF DISCRIMINATION IN THE HIGHLY-INSPIRING “HIDDEN FIGURES”

The legendary Oscar winning actor Kevin Costner stars in the highly-inspiring movie based on the lives of real women who dared the odds in “Hidden Figures” along with Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominated Taraji P. Henson, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, Grammy nominated Janelle Monáe , Golden Globe nominee Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons with a powerful score from multiple Grammy winning musician/composer Pharrell Williams.

In “Hidden Figures” Costner plays the head of NASA’s Space Task Group, (the fictional) Al Harrison, who needs the best possible mathematicians regardless of gender or race.  Harrison wants Katherine Johnson (Henson) to work on John Glenn’s mission, because she has the skills needed to calculate the astronaut’s trajectory, which entails writing new formulas, making sure Glenn returns to Earth safely. As the movie unfolds, we discover that although Johnson is working on the mission, she is given little credit and is hamstrung in her endeavors because of endemic prejudice.

During the turbulent 60s, battling discrimination at home and in the workplace, Katherine Johnson, (Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominated Taraji P. Henson) Dorothy Vaughan (Oscar winner Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Grammy nominated Janelle Monáe), all stellar mathematicians, were undeterred in their pursuit of academic excellence. Instrumental in helping America to eventually win the space race, they broke down barriers, laying the groundwork for future generations.