"Hidden Figures" Tour KSC

Octavia Spencer, who portrays Dorothy Vaughan in the upcoming motion picture "Hidden Figures," looks at a display near Launch Pad 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The pad, seen in the background, was the location of the launch of John Glenn and three other astronauts who flew orbital missions during Project Mercury. The movie is based on the book of the same title, by Margot Lee Shetterly. It chronicles the lives of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three African-American women who worked for NASA as human "computers.” Their mathematical calculations were crucial to the success of Project Mercury missions including Glenn’s orbital flight aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. The film is due in theaters in January 2017.