Name:

Hidden Figures Film Questions

1. How did America’s fear of communism affect things at Langley?

It created tension that was being used to get a man in space first

2. What was so exceptional about Katherine Goble?

She was an exceptional Mathematician for NASA.

3. How did the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik change the focus of work at Langley? Why were the
eyes of all Americans suddenly focused on them?
They changed their focus to getting a man on the moon , not just a satellite.

4. Why was Katherine Goble not allowed to go to the editorial meetings? Why did she want to be a part of
them? How does she finally get the chance?
She was not allowed to attend those meetings because she was told she was qualified to and basically
because she was a negro woman.

5. What was Project Mercury? What role did Katherine Goble Johnson play in it? What first did she
accomplish while working on this project?
Project mercury

6. What two kinds of discrimination did Mary Jackson face throughout her life? Why was her job as an
engineer so special?
Racial and Gender discrimination.

7. What changes took place at Langley in the early 1960s? What were NASA’s major goals? How was
Dorothy Vaughan’s work impacted by these changes?
They wanted to have a satellite up in space but they changed it to not just wanting a satellite in space but
man too.

8. What important role did Katherine Johnson play in John Glenn’s mission to orbit the Earth? Why was
she the one to do this? How did she help put a man on the moon?
She calculated all of coordinates for the launch which had to be exact

9. How did women like Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson live out the American
dream and make a difference for future generations?
Name:

10. Why might these 3 women’s identities have been hidden until now? What may this suggest about
history as we know it? Do you think there are other hidden figures, why or why not? (5 sentences or
more)