Katherine Johnson is a human computer. No, like really. She calculated numbers for the agency that would become NASA; her actual title was "computer." That was in 1953. By 1962 she was crunching the numbers that would allow John Glenn to become the first American to orbit Earth. If you’ve heard of Katherine Johnson it might be because she was awarded the National Medal of Freedom in 2015. Next year, she’ll get another acknowledgement: She’ll be played by *Empire'*s Taraji P. Henson in a movie about her work with NASA. And she won’t be alone. Hidden Figures also follows the careers of two other African-American women who worked with Johnson at the agency during the Space Race: Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). If this is already sounding like your kind of movie, just wait until you see the trailer, which premiered last night during the Rio Olympics. In addition to Henson, Spencer, and Monáe, the movie also stars Kevin Costner, who looks like he’s a 1960s NASA scientist even when he’s out of character, and Glen Powell, who you probably know as A+ sleaze bag Chad Radwell on Scream Queens but who is playing John Glenn here. Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent), hits theaters Jan. 13, 2017.
Taraji P. Henson Is a NASA Math Whiz in First Hidden Figures Trailer
The movie, about the careers of African-American women during the Space Race in the 1960s, hits theaters early next year.
