Posted on 07/19/2019 3:19:56 PM PDT by Eddie01
A new film, Hidden Figures, tells the story of the maths wizards who Nasa relied on.
When John Glenn was waiting to be fired into orbit aboard Friendship 7 in 1962, there was one person he trusted with the complex trajectory calculations required to bring him down safely from his orbital spaceflight: Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked in Nasa’s segregated west area computers division.
“Get the girl, check the numbers,” Glenn said before boarding the rocket. “If she says they’re good, I’m good to go.”
Johnson was one of three female African-American mathematicians known as the “computers in skirts” who worked on the Redstone, Mercury and Apollo space programmes for Nasa. Now, thanks to an award-tipped movie, Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan are about to become more widely celebrated.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Pictures at link of the women.
John Glenn sold his soul.
Saw the movie, it was great. Makes you wonder about what happened to the black family since then.
I've always stated that those latter names originated as ghetto names, and the media et. al. elevated those to "black" names around 40 years ago.
None of this changes anything from a cultural or societal point of view. The Bell Curve doesn’t mean there won’t be any that won’t be on the high end, it’s just ever more so rare. I wish we had more blacks like these women. Their own culture doesn’t produce them.
So true, Glen was a Rat.
What are the chances this story is fake? Why would Glenn micro-manage the launch?
“Saw the movie, it was great.”
My husband, who worked in these kinds of programs for the government, is skeptical about how much of the movie is accurate and how much has been embellished for political correctness
It is a very good movie.
A real American story. It didn’t paint over the warts, it didn’t make martyrs of these women, it didn’t make civil rights heroes out of the white men who stepped up to change things and it didn’t oversell their accomplishments. (which would be hard to do with the Apollo program)
But it did acknowledge their critical role among the thousands of people who worked as a team on one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind. It showed how hard they had to work and how dedicated they had to be to be a part of it. IMO it was a pretty honest representation of the times.
Democrats
Reality is boring most of the time. These were three real people who realistically would have had challenges to overcome due to racism. They made contributions to the space program.
Even documentaries need to dramatize to hold people’s interest.
You do realize the movie is not the real story and those women were exaggerated. Look it up.
WOW did you nail it with that question.
Doesn’t make sense.
And 3 black women helped send me into orbit too.
But it was a different kind of orbit :)
You do realize it was a movie?
Never mind what the hundreds of America’s top engineers say, a fighter jock is going to ask three women in the basement. Oh gee, guess America is a racist country and sucks.
It’s always about the blacks this and that for recognition. So what, they are human beings and American. Could care less about the skin color. sheesh
ROFL!!!!!
It is very unlikely that this is the truth.
Thank you for sharing! Loved Hidden Figures!
A reminder that even as we were struggling to live up to our truest ideals here at home — regardless of how divided we were — all of us, black and white — united around America in awe as we together fulfilled the dream of going to space.
And we were united in standing for freedom under God in the face of our nemesis: the atheist and communist Soviet Union.
100%
Yes well put! In my view the movie/story reflects the MAGA spirit in spades. The heart of America that emerges even through our imperfections!
And I was especially struck by how much we stood for contrasted with that of the Soviet Union.
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