HIDDEN FIGURES is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae)—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.
Check out with Dava Newman, NASA Deputy Administrator; Bill Barry, NASA Historian; Shelia Nash- Stevenson, NASA, Stephanie Wilson, NASA astronaut and Dr. Yvonne Cagle had to say about the importance of the film.
Stephanie Diana Wilson is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew on her first mission in space on board the Space Shuttle mission STS-121, and is the second African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison.
Tell me about your story and how you came to be an astronaut?
Stephanie Wilson: I grew up in Western Mass and in middle school I was given an assignment to interview someone who worked in an interesting career field. I talked to a local area astronomy professor and was fascinated by his work so that was my first interest in space. I went on to study aerospace engineering. From there I went on to work at the Martin Marietta company and then also at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before I became an astronaut and started working at the Johnson Space Center.
Were you aware of these ladies’ story at all before you became an astronaut?
Stephanie Wilson: Not before I became an astronaut. Once I had become one I had heard the story of one woman that had worked on John Glenn’s flight and worked to validate the computer model and the computer results for his flight. I had only heard of one woman. I didn’t know the broader story of the group, the West Area Computing Group and how there were so many ladies that supported the work in the space program. It is very inspiring for young girls to see an entire group of women, well prepared, skilled, competent, working on a team, communicating their results. That’s a phenomenal example. They serve as great role models and I’m hopeful that more girls will want to pursue STEM fields.
What kind of advice can you give to young girls who may want to pursue a career in space?
Stephanie Wilson: I would say that they should study hard in school, of course take all the math and science that they can and then choose science or engineering or math in college. Endeavor to work in their field and then apply for whatever programs they wish.
How did they approach you you to be a part of the project?
Dr. Bill Barry: Well, Ted Melfi and the team had optioned the book, they had written a script. Then they approached NASA because there you have to get permission to use the NASA logo and insignia, things like that. They wanted to do some collaboration with us. We thought this was a great story. We would love to do it because this is a way for us to help the next generation of young people to be inspired to go into these tough fields like math and science where they think it’s difficult and where’s it’s kind of a non-traditional thing. This movie is a great example of sort of non-traditional people doing really important work and finding themselves. We’re hoping that the movie will inspire kids to do the same thing in the future.
Were you aware of these ladies’ stories before the film came about?
Dr. Bill Barry: Yeah, NASA had been looking at the story of the human computers since probably seriously studying it from the history of programs perspective since the early 90’s. We had done a lot of research and Margot Shetterly who wrote the book on which the movie is based … Thank god that she came along because she was really interested in the story. She was the daughter of a person who worked at Langley. She knew these women when she was growing up. She didn’t realize how important their story was until she got married and she came back with her husband and her husband’s like, “This is a great story! You need to tell this story.” She actually came and worked in our archive and dug out all kinds of great information and wrote a great book which of course has turned into a wonderful movie too. That’s a great thing.
What do you say the next generation of mathematicians and scientists?
Dr. Bill Barry: Number one, math is not as hard as you think it is so stick with it. Don’t listen to people that tell you it’s not a good job or it’s a crazy thing to do, it’s too hard or whatever. Just stick with it and follow your passion. I mean, in my case math is not my skill or my passion, writing is so I became a historian. I still wanted to work for NASA and there was a place for me at NASA too. We’re looking for young kids following their passion no matter what color or gender they are, whatever, we’re looking for them to follow their passion and come work and help us get to Mars.
How exciting is this for you to see this story on the big screen?
Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson: Oh, this is very exciting. I can’t wait to see this. The actresses that are portraying these women, I love all of them. I can’t wait to see what they do in this particular film.
How aware were you of the story of these ladies, the amazing ladies before the movie of course but was their story a story you already knew prior?
Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson: Actually, I did not. I’m in Alabama and these women were in Virginia I believe. That story didn’t really come down that far. We have a lot of stories of people in Alabama but we didn’t get the Virginia stories.
Why is it so important that we know who these ladies are?
Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson: It’s important that we know that there are very brilliant African American women that are making a contribution to the space program. We also want our young girls to know that this is possible. All they need to do is tackle those STEM courses and don’t be afraid of them and then they can do exactly what these women have done.
Tell me a little bit about your journey. What inspired you to get involved in NASA?
Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson: Well, now I’m not an astronaut so I didn’t get to space but we contributed and we helped astronauts to get to space. I was in graduate school where I was considering going to graduate school and a professor of mine got me a NASA fellowship. As a part of the NASA fellowship I would spend time at NASA working with the scientists and engineers there. I became interested in working there also.
What was your reaction to the story?
Dr. Yvonne Cagle: My first reaction was, “This is not a movie, it’s an echo.” It was a reflection of so much of my aspirations, of my inspirations, and my hopes and dreams. Especially starting out when it’s nothing more than just a passion in your heart and knowing the kind of preparation and perseverance that it took for both the movie characters, Dr. Katherine Johnson in real life and myself following in her footsteps in order to achieve. It was just wonderful to see that captured. That there’s a process but that process has incredible meaning and impact.
What inspired you to join this world?
Dr. Yvonne Cagle: I had to know. I had to know the answers and I had to find them out for myself. It was because it’s not just about the answers it’s about the journey and the growth that occurs along the way. That’s why I pursued it. I wanted that journey. I wanted that growth and I wanted the destination ultimately. The important thing was to discover the competency and capacities that exist as a team and within each one of us that makes our world the amazing place it is to leave and the amazing place it is to protect and return to.
Talk about why it’s so important that we know who these people are?
Dr. Yvonne Cagle: Well, there are so many lenses to look at history through. We have to realize that no one does this in a vacuum even though space is a vacuum. It really takes the dedication and perseverance of so many people from so many walks of life. That’s really the story of and the resonance of what inclusivity is all about. Diversity and inclusivity is what is going to really not only reinforce our lives here on Earth but allow us to explore deeper and further and to really see what lies beyond.
What do you tell the next generation of space explorers? What advice do you have for them?
Dr. Yvonne Cagle: The very same thing that Dr. Katherine Johnson has said to me and is so relevant still today which is, “Prepare, prepare, prepare, persevere, and then have fun because if you’re having fun you know you’re doing something very right.
Tell me about the story. Did you know about this story before it came to the screen?
Dr. Dava Newman: I did because at NASA we know about this story. These are our women computers. It’s amazing. There are amazing women at NASA, been amazing women at NASA for the last 50 years and I just love it that humans were the first computers, right? Katherine had to check those, you know that John Glenn, American hero, thank goodness he has Katherine to just check those orbital calculations one more time. I am actually a rocket scientist myself so I do a lot of orbital mechanics.
Do you think this movie will help inspire young girls to go who might be intimidated by science and math to possibly pursue a career in something like what you do?
Dr. Dava Newman: Absolutely, yep. Hope they all want my job, hope they all want to be astronauts. I have a message for them to change the conversation a little bit. Tell them, “You know what? You don’t have to be the best in math and physics and all those … Don’t get intimidated.” What you need to do is you want to go to Mars with us, great. Want to go to the moon? You want to solve clean energy? How about climate? How about clean water? If you want to do any of those things, those big tough problems, guess what? These are just tools. It’s for everybody. We got to make sure that every little girl and boy out there sees themselves as … yeah I want them to see themselves in my role as an aerospace engineer. This is for everybody.
