Please take my 'SLIDE RULE' & 'PROTRACTOR' with you so they can be dug up in the Future by Talking Apes that ride Horses & shoot rifles. (Good 'call back' on Ashleigh's 'lack-of-info' public schools don't teach anymore.) Why do we even have book libraries anymore since obviously 'no young people' ever use them anymore?
A couple of notes: The scene where John Glenn asked to have “the girl check the numbers” is directly from the NASA transcript. John Glenn was a badass in every way imaginable. Most people outside of NASA did not know about these ladies until recently. The woman who wrote the book that inspired the movie grew up knowing the ladies, but didn’t know how big a deal they all were because the women didn’t make a big deal about it. They all just saw it as part of doing their jobs. In my book, this makes them even bigger badasses.
What NASA transcript is the John Glenn story from? In Shetterly’s book, the story has no source except Katherine Johnson herself, interviewed in her 90s. John Glenn has never mentioned Johnson’s name.
@@cobbler88what exactly is your issue with this film? Seems like you are overly butthurt about it. I have my suspicions as to why, but I'm dying to hear your explanation.
@@shartheheretic I'm sure you do have your suspicions. And I'm sure they're VERY basic. I just have a thing against manipulating a narrative and selling it as fact so that the more ignorant members of the public pick up on it and regurgitate it as gospel. Must be a personal failing of mine, no? Take care.
Jim Parsons said he was embarrassed for not knowing this story before he did the movie because he grew up in Texas and was very into the space program.
@@gamergod9182 A Mental or human calculator is a person with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation (such as adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing large numbers). Mental calculators were in great demand in research centers such as CERN before the advent of modern electronic calculators and computers. The terms were often interchangeable.
My mom worked at NASA about the time of the movie (late 50's early 60's). She was one of several secretaries for Wernher Von Braun at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. I remember my mom telling me they were all "sworn to secrecy" and could not reveal to anyone what they were typing up in letters dictated from Von Braun.
The only thing funnier than her reading that it was Octavia Spenser and not Viola Davis is when she said Kevin Costner?? Like where was he at? 😂😂 I’m dying
"Going where no woman has gone before to get a man where no man has gone before!!" I never even thought of it like that. This movie always makes me cry happy tears!
@@krank23 I imagine if someone points out when some other film fudges the facts, you'll ignore the nut of the situation and accuse THEM of something as well, right? I guess the film accomplished its job, peddling an inaccurate narrative to people who only see race. So sad.
I met one of the engineers for the Apollo program when I was going through Lean/Six Sigma training at my current job. Those ladies were held in the highest regard by the NASA Rank and File employees
I met one of the Apollo 11 mission controllers at a First Nations powow - retired and traveling by RV with his wife from one gathering to the next. We got to talking - even in the early 2000s, they were gettng harassed with "dirty redskin" nonsense. Makes ya proud to be white. :-(
"He's a dick boss, but he's nice." He's a hardass but fair, which is exactly the kind of person you need to get a bunch of absentminded engineers focused enough to accomplish something that's never been done before.
@@Suileron Sort of yes, sort of no. The real person would not give permission to use his name or likeness so Costner's character is a composite of 3 different real life NASA bosses.
I love the contrast in the two supervisors. Harrison is focused on his department’s task, which is good, but he is oblivious to the problems within his department’s staff until they interfere with that task. OTOH, Dorothy is fully aware of her staff and their capabilities, nurtures them, trains them to develop further, and brings everyone with her when she finally moves ahead.
Yeah, but he's also working directly with the rest of the government and military. He's under some extreme stress. It doesn't excuse that he doesn't know what's happening, but once he does, he knows exactly how badly it must be affecting things, because he's already identified her as the brightest person he has.
@alexanderiel6950 The idea that we wouldn't have gone to space without these particular people doing some of the math is laughable, and means that it accomplished its goal of ... fudging ... the historical narrative. A job well done, I guess. 🤣
@alexanderiel6950The US would absolutely have gotten into space without them. They were part of a team of hundreds that checked calculations; they didn’t write the equations or design the rockets. If those women had never been born, Neil Armstrong would have walked on the moon on the exact same day. What do you think Von Braun and the Germans had been working on for two decades before this? The first Redstone rocket went up in 1958. Buzz Aldrin’s MIT thesis was about orbital rendezvous.
In WWII, there were groups of women in England also called computers, who did the code interception and code breaking. These women weren't even allowed to tell their families what they were doing, threatened with arrest for espionage and treason under the "Official Secrets Act". 6 Decades later, they were finally recognized and allowed to speak of the work they did that helped the Allies win the war. No one learns in school about the people who make the great things happen. The big names are all we learn, because who has time to know every engineer in the space program, every physicist on the Manhattan Project, every captain who helped train troops for D-Day.
The shots inside the Mercury made it look much bigger inside than it actually was. As John Glenn himself said, "You don't fly a Mercury capsule, you wear it."
When we made those capsules for this movie, both capsules had to be split in half vertically, so they could be fitted around the metal pipe you see in the wind tunnel (which was a real and functioning tunnel in Smyrna/Marietta GA at Lockheed adjacent to Dobbins ARB), and one was made to be split vertically, so if so desired, they could dress out a cockpit. There was a chance that we were going to get that contract, but looks like it went to someone else. The film only had a budget of 25 million, and they were exceeding it near the end of the film. One funny thing, when it aired, a friend of mine asked me "you didn't do that crappy Mercury interior where John Glenn was sitting, did you?"
Remember, women have ALWAYS been in STEM jobs. One of the first computer programmers (as there is some debate) was actually a woman named Ada Lovelace in the 1840's, the daughter of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke Byron. She was a mathematician who wrote a series of simple instructions to perform complex calculations for a machine that had yet to be built (and would never be built during her lifetime). It is considered an early form of an algorithm.
Katherine Johnson was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom (long overdue & absolutely deserved) in 2015 when she was 96 years old. Dorothy Vaughan &Mary Jackson were posthumously awarded Congressional Gold medals in 2019. ETA: RE 0 gravity chamber-have you considered indoor skydiving? Not precisely the same but you would be floating..
A 'cheap way' to do the Gravity Spin is to use a city park, or school yard "Merry-Go-Round" IF any are still available. Most 'Spinning Wheels' in park are banned these days because of 'accidents' that have injured people & pets, so don't expect to ever see them used again for FUN & GAMES, since 'those days' are all gone now.
As far as I know, the only way, not including being in orbit to achieve less gravity is in a specially modified cargo plane that performs this effect. NASA uses one and it's called the Vomit Comet for obvious reasons.
If the truth was actually reflected by this film, it wouldn't have taken so long. But, sadly, this was almost pure fiction by the time the screenplay was finished.
Seeing how stressed you were during the actual orbit sequence I'm guessing you wouldn't do well with Apollo 13. Still gonna recommend it, it's amazing and uplifting.
And HBO's 12-part docudrama series "From the Earth to the Moon". Also "First Man". (I didn't care for it myself, but that shouldn't stop anyone else from watching - and enjoying it.
Katherine Johnson is an absolute fucking LEGEND. The scene where Glenn asks that the IBM work be double-checked by Katherine is exactly what happened in real life. Also, real or not, that dinner table proposal was BEAUTIFUL. I feel like social media has conditioned us to believe that grand expressions of love are the only "true" way to show your appreciation for someone, but him proposing with his mother's ring at HER table while she's sitting with her kids and mom is a more personal, enduring memory than any grand gesture could ever be.
The dog the USSR put into space was named Laika and yes, She eventually died of suffocation in orbit. However, I know You've been watching the Marvel movies and in the Guardians of the Galaxy You'll see a dog in a space suit, and that's Her. In the Marvel universe, she gets powers similar to how the Fantastic Four got powers and goes on many adventures of Her own.
Initially, Soviet publications claimed that the dog died, painlessly, after a week in Earth orbit. But that account has been called into question over the years. "Decades later, several Russian sources revealed that Laika survived in orbit for four days and then died when the cabin overheated." Laika inspired the creation of the Marvel character Cosmo the Spacedog. In the comic books, Cosmo is a male dog. In the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, director James Gunn made his version of Cosmo a female dog to honor Laika.
This is all very recent in terms of history; Katherine Johnson passed away only four years ago, on Feb 24, 2020 at the amazing age of 101. Incredible women, incredible movie.
Most people would rather have a very tough boss as long as they are fair, than a "nice" boss that doesn't enforce accountability or have the courage to lead.
@@kerry-j4mif you can lead and correct, nobody needs to be chastised. That’s just an emotionally immature person taking their anger out on someone else. I’ve lead many teams and successfully run multiple locations at store level before moving onto district management, and I never had to chastise anyone, insult them, “rake them over the coals,” yell, curse, or intimidate anyone. You hire and train people properly, lead by example, and hold people accountable, true. But no grown adult needs to be chastised at work. That’s not what adults do.
What I love is that Mary Jackson did get exactly what she was wanting, Night Classes for Engineering, she had to keep her day job at NASA during the day. But as an engineer and a very big fan of the the space race, I already knew Kathrine's contrubution due to John Glenn's speach saying he would not trust anyone else's number for his launches because Kathrine was always right, and the comuters kept saying it could not be done. But NASA really did set the stage for a lot of segregation policies being done away on all NASA facilities first and then on to all military facilities as well
That part about John Glenn and Katherine Johnson is completely fictional. It never happened. There is no source for it other than Katherine Johnson,in her 90s, claiming it happened.
@@kirkdarling4120Hundreds of books written about Mercury and the space program, millions of pages of documentation, yet nobody ever heard this wild tale until 2015 (at a moment when it suits what has become the country’s reigning ideology). And the story has no source of any kind but the fuzzy memories of an old lady in her 90s.
@@kirkdarling4120RUclips apparently won’t allow me to post the link, but google “hiddenfigurescritique.” Google it exactly like that, with no spaces. It’s a fairly technical writeup by two still living Mercury vets, one of whom worked at the desk next to Katherine Johnson’s. It goes into great detail about NASA procedures and how the “John Glenn” story cannot be true, just to add to the weight of all the other reasons it’s so unlikely. The writeups were compiled by Charles Murray, who wrote what most space program vets of that era believe was the best book on the engineers and technicians of Apollo.
Growing up in the '80s when the space shuttle first started its missions we would all pause in awe of the spectacle. We also know exactly where we were when the challenger exploded. The whole world came to a standstill and grieved together. What a day that was.
This was such a good movie and tastefully covered some of the most distasteful happenings in the US at that time. We have worked so hard to get rid of segregation and I start seething when I see supposedly High Thinking Universities bringing back racial segregation in student housing, common spaces, graduation ceremonies and even some classes. It revolting to think about!
These women won. They won by using intelligence and dignity. Respect to them! There was a video of the real and very elderly Katherine Johnson in a wheelchair being wheeled by her daughter onto the stage at an awards ceremony for this movie. She got a long standing ovation from all the celebreties in the audience. Her daughter stooped down and whispered to her, "Say thanks." Katherine waited a moment, then quietly said, "Thank you." She clearly understood that this praise was for her. I wept watching that. Someone said she never believed that she deserved any praise. but I was glad she got it.
I just turned 69 last month. I remember Whites only bathrooms, water fountains. My best friend as kid was Derek Whitwell, a Black kid. When we went to the movies I sat in the balcony with my friend. After I turned 9 the Civil Rights Bill was passed in 1964 after we moved from Bowling Green, KY to Indianapolis. A few years ago, Derek's sister called to tell me some White Boys ran Derek off the road and he died in the crash. I hate bigots.
I think it's beautiful that, thanks to you being vulnerable and sharing this story here, he has also become a hidden figure no more. May he always be surrounded by loving light.
My Dad is 69 and I remember him taking me to his childhood small town movie theater that was also segregated. We sat up in the balcony. It was an eye-opening experience for this Gen X kid that grew up accepting of all people's race/sexuality/religion/etc.
I'm 62 and I was raised in the West. Racism was directed toward people of Hispanic descent. Blacks were rare and actually celebrated. Another form of racism. I never understood why any of it mattered, even though I participated fully in it.
John Glenn was good people. He was a testament to his good nature, unbiased views, and love of his country and its people. His wife was awesome, too. It was a sad day when we lost him. These ladies paved the way for women and women of color everywhere. With Katherine Johnson passing away only a few years ago at 101 years old, she broke so many barriers. We have a doll of her in our house "working" at NASA, badge and all. She's important to our discussions about women and Black History Month (and every month!). So glad you got to watch this. It's an amazingly done movie and Taraji P. Henson was brilliant in it!
"They're more worried about how she figured it out?" Yup. It's not obvious, but he's already realizing just how smart, and vital, she is going to be to the program. He's not worried that she figured out... he's worried that "the bad guys" could figure out in the same way.
I learned about these women in the 60's while writing computer programs in high school. Our female instructor made sure we knew about these women. They inspired many people to do their best and go further than they ever dreamed possible.
The NASA transfer van for the astronauts makes total sense. They need to be kept as germ-free as possible, and if they're in their spacesuits they are not up to walking the distance or trying to squeeze into a car.
Right before he went up in the space shuttle to become the oldest man to go to space John Glenn visited my elementary school classroom and talked to us all about space exploration. Maybe a week later we all gathered around the TV and watched the man we met actually fly into space. It really inspired lifelong love of all things space science and I'll always be grateful to him for it.
"You are not a computer, you are a human being." Computer is a job description. The modern use of the word refers to machines that do it automatically, but at the time, it referred to people.
FYI, there's no such thing as a zero gravity chamber. The closest we've got is the "Vomit Comet" - a KC 135 aircraft which goes into a series of steep dives to give you time in free fall which is the same as zero gravity.
That nice Mr. John guy, was Astronaut John Glenn, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. He was the 3rd American to go to space after Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom flew sub-orbital flights, and he was the first American to orbit the Earth in his Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7. He was later a US Senator from Ohio, and became the oldest American to go to space at age 77 when he was a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. That record stood until it was twice broken in 2021 when first Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk broke it at age 82, and then later in the year, William Shatner broke her record at age 90. AFAIK, he currently holds the record.
@@capnmoby13I hate to confess that I'm old enough to recall the Apollo missions very clearly. I kinda remember some of the later Gemini's but don't have independent memory of any of the Mercury's though. I was only around 5 or 6 at that point
@@mena94x3After Shatner got back from space he started to give a heartfelt speech about his real space experience and Jeff Bezos cut him off rudely and opened a champagne bottle in Shatner's face, who's been known to be a recovering alcoholic.
Surprised that you picked out Jim Parsons (Sheldon) before Kevin Costner. I knew you would love, love, love this movie however. Some great historical shots in this movie and you're right, we should have heard more about these women long before now. I lived through the entire space race and never knew of or heard of them until this movie came out. Bravo to them.
I’m surprised you’re watching with subtitles now. Nice touch. I mean it.👍🏽 More importantly, Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, and Octavia Spencer are always a win.
"What an amazing history!" - Absolutely. Kind of makes you wonder why most people never even hear about it in school. Makes you wonder, also, how many other important parts of our history we never find out about. And how such a huge percentage of students come out of school hating history and wanting nothing to do with it ever again. Almost makes ME wonder if schools are really trying to HELP us...
Sounds like you don’t wonder at all…😔 Another great example is Amber Ruffin’s episode on hidden towns. Specifically formerly Black towns that are now currently under man-made lakes predominately White people vacation on with their lake houses and boats.
@@stevenandcarminabeedle9089 Yeah. I would say that do I try to stay open to the possibility of being wrong about any particular belief, but my views on education are pretty made up - and backed up by reams of evidence - these days. We should never forget that racism is not just ignorance, but the coincidence of ignorance with ARROGANCE. Now, ignorance is almost synonymous with being human, and thus, unavoidable. But adding arrogance on top of that - thinking you're one of the "Elect", somehow, and trying to deny your natural, human limits - that's a killer. There is no bound to the evil you can perpetrate then.
"The fact that I didn't know about any of these women in high school..." YES! That is the absolute worst part of this. So much history isn't taught, simply because someone was the wrong sex, or the wrong race, or the wrong religion. It's horrifying to think about at times.
Being from the boomer generation, I am still learning. When I learned there was a black theater and black stars I was devastated. So much talent missed and lost. Once I learned a native American opera singer performed in Europe came home and was ignored. Or the talent in Porgy & Bess would have lost if it wasn't for that musical. Let use us never lose our humanity again.
You may have not run into him yet, but Marsheala Ali has been in 3 different Marvel projects. He played a villain in the Netflix series Luke Cage, played Uncle Aaron in the Spider-Verse movies, and has been cast as the new Blade in the upcoming remake. He is an amazing actor.
He has won two Oscars, for Green Book and for Moonlight. He's the real deal. And he was great as Cottonmouth in Luke Cage -- one of the highlights of that series. Hopefully, Ashleigh will watch those Netflix Marvel series as part of her MCU adventure.
I was crying before she even started the reaction. I cry when I think of this movie, not out of sadness, but out of pride, for these women, and how they had a hand in changing the world.
26:11 This is one of the slight tweaks to reality within the movie. 1) there were colored bathrooms in most buildings (not all, but most) and in all campus sections, not just the West Campus. 2) from the start Katherine Johnson used the white bathrooms (mainly because they weren't labeled either way). It was a couple years before someone said something to her about it, she let that roll off her back and that was the only time it was said. 3) Mary Jackson dealt with more of a problem with the bathrooms. The white ladies just giggled at her when she first asked where the nearest colored bathroom was when she was outside the West campus. Again, there were bathrooms in most buildings, so although she didn't have to run back to the W.campus, she _did_ waste a bunch of time trying to find which buildings had them, and where in the buildings they were. ...4) Dorothy Vaughan became NACA's first black supervisor in 1948 (more than a decade before when this movie was set), and received supervisor pay... There are a lot of other interesting bits the movie got right and wrong. My favorite "got it right" moment was the scene with John Glenn insisting "the girl" check the math regarding his flight. Apparently it happened IRL almost word-for-word as the movie portrayed it.
The John Glenn story is almost certainly false, and there is no source for it other than the memories and claims of a 93 year old lady. Shetterly’s book has no documentation other than that, and she had access to all the files and transcripts. Nor is it mentioned in any other history or memoir of the space program; John Glenn never mentioned Katherine Johnson’s name in his life. That scene is a prime example of how fake history gets taken as fact.
@@billdouglas8701 - I would bet my life she was a hell of a lot more lucid at 92 than Biden is at 81. With other character traits of John Glenn well known, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that part of the movie were correct.
@@alphanerd7221 - NASA, perhaps, but its predecessor, NACA _did_ have segregated bathrooms, but racism on campus wasn't as big a problem on campus as it was made to look in the movie. (as is the case with many movies)
"We've never had a Colored in here before, Katherine." One never realizes how disrespectful it is for an adjective to be used as a noun refering to a person until it happens to you.
Ruby Bridges, the first Black girl to go to a White school, is still alive. The first Black people born with equal rights under the law (whether or not in fact or practice) are less than 60 years old. And now we see the same arguments used for similar bigotry against a different marginalized group.
@@JeshuaSquirrel If you're talking about illegal aliens then SHUT UP! Plus blacks have it better in America than any other country in the world, even though they make up almost 50% of violent criminals while only being 13% of the population.
Something you seem to be confused about initially: "Computer" used to be a completely human profession - mostly women who "just" sat and did number-crunching. That's why "computers don't file reports". They weren't expected to provide creative input. They were eventually replaced by the "electronic computer".
I used to work in the property management department of a good sized Maryland bank. Over the years we had bought up more than a few small old banks, and inherited all their deeds and lease agreements. I ran across one deed from the 1920s for a plot of land a bank branch was built on. It contained a restrictive covenant prohibiting resale of the land to anyone of a litany of racial, ethnic and religious groups.
@@chrismorgan9153yeah. It’s a way to low key keep those “laws and policies” around. I doubt they’re strictly enforced, but Mississippi only officially abolished slavery in 1995 I think so 🤷🏽♀️
I like that though the movie focuses on Katherine, all three of the lead characters were strong women who pushed to accomplish their dreams, and succeeded.
Ashliegh, if you want to know more about John Glenn and the early space program, I recommend, "The Right Stuff". A really good movie about the early years of the space race.
@@EastPeakSlim When I saw it in theaters and Chuck Yeager came on the screen, I thought to myself, "I've seen that guy in something else. He looks so familiar." It wasn't until I saw his name in the credits that I finally put it together and facepalmed right there in the theater.
The space dog Laika was a stray found in Moscow and trained along with a few other dogs for the space mission. Interesting fact is that many stray dogs in Moscow have learned to use the subways to get around the city routinely repeating the same routes (not wandering randomly) showing many of those strays to be highly intelligent. Sadly Laika did not survive her trip to space since no means to return her were built into the mission parameters.
It was cool to watch a rocket launch back when it was a real coin toss if it'd work or not. I vividly remember staying up late to watch Apollo 11 touchdown on the moon. We didn't have AC and it was brutal hot. We had an old console black and white TV. It held together long enough to see the live feed, "One small step..." Soon after, one of the tubes burned out. We had to get the trouble shooting card. We picked the closest malfunction, opened the back and pulled the tube the card suggested. We took the tube to the pharmacy and plugged it into the gigantic tube tester machine up by the entrance. It failed. We bought a new one, put it in and it was all good. Good times...
I'm glad we no longer use Vacumn Tubes, I hated it when my local store 'Tester Machine' didn't have 'THE TUBE' I needed for my Radio or Black-n-White TV. I had to get a friend to drive me around to several locations to find 'one'. Thanks for the flying saucer 'micro-processors' we use these days, now we just 'buy' a whole complete TV/Video Screen instead.
It's funny to think that back then, "computer" was a job title. When IBM business machines were introduced, they were called "electronic computers" because they did the work of a computer. Very soon after that, the word "computer" started being used exclusively for machines, and people who were good at math were called "human computers."
In 2018, 2 years after he performed as Colonel Johnson in this movie, Mahershala Ali won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in another reality-based movie, “Green Book” in which he plays the role of the great musician, Dr. Donald Shirley, who actually LIVED at Carnegie Hall. I sent you a copy of that movie a few months back. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor and the film won Best Picture and Best Screenplay Oscars that year.
"That'd be a horrible way to die". In 2003 the Space Shuttle Colombia acured damage on the Left wing heat shielding during lift off. Upon reentry the damaged area could not withstand the intense heat. Hot gasses burned into the wing and compromised the wing structure and it broke causing the shuttle to become unstable and fully break apart. It killed all seven astronauts; Rick Husband, commander William C. McCool, pilot Michael P. Anderson, mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist David M. Brown, mission specialist Laurel Clark, mission specialist Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. The Debris Field spanned across more than 2,400 square miles of Texas and Louisiana. Some remains of all crew was recovered. Unlike the Challenger disaster, these astronauts probably knew they were going to die. This hits, because the Columbia was the first Space Shuttle launched in 1981.
I was driving to work at the time the shuttle was supposed to be re-entering the atmosphere... I kept looking to the sky hoping to see them... till the announcement they were "lost", and not yet understanding what that meant (trying to process)
'Based on true events' is true. Like most movies about real people, dramatic licence has been taken to help tell the story. Katherine Goble/Johnson was asked during an interview what her experience with racism was at NASA, she said that in all her years at NASA she experienced only one incident of racism, this occured in a ladies bathroom. That's pretty remarkable given the situation elsewhere in America at the time.
Ashleigh, I LOVE your heart for what is right! Your parents did a GREAT job with showing you what is the way to treat people. You're always welcome at the cookout Sis!
I worked on this film! I built the two Mercury Capsules. This was filmed in Feb-March 2016, and released in December 2016. It was nominated for two Oscars, but didn't win either. My name isn't in the credits, but my friend played one of the astronauts, and even he didn't get a film credit, either!
I ALSO worked on this film 😂. Crazy-small world, I worked with the costumer’s personal team. This is my favorite project that I’ve ever been a part of.
@ZoomerStasi you might want to read Margot Shetterly's book that the film is based on. The movie does have some stylized drama, and isn't totally historically accurate, but it's generally correct. NASA was one of the more forward thinking government entities, as it was also a relative young agency at the time history period of the movie. NASA was officially opened Oct 1, 1958. The movie takes place in the early 60's.
I absolutely adore the movie Hidden Figures. Thank you for your reaction! Another African-American true story to watch and research is that of Ms. Henrietta Lacks. Her story is also amazing.
I was privileged enough to watch two early Space Shuttle liftoffs from the press area, which is about 3.5 miles from the launchpad. You would not believe how powerful the rumble is, even from that distance away. When I was young in the 1960's, I devoured any news stories and reports about the astronauts and knew quite a lot about them and NASA as well. For example, from my reading, I knew there were some women who acted as computers (the word was used for persons who did calculations before being used for the machines that replaced them), BUT I do not remember any stories mentioning that they were black at that time (I learned that later). That fact was probably downplayed in the media (that talked about them at all), and you certainly never saw them in video of NASA, only lots of men in white shirts and dark thin ties. This movie was a truly an inspirational and uplifting gem. There is a video (you'll find it on RUclips) of Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek and Alan Bean, the 4th man to walk on the Moon, doing NASA recruitment in the 1970's
It did not. There is no source for that story other than Katherine Johnson claiming it, as a confused old woman in her 90s. John Glenn has never mentioned Katherine Johnson’s name.
@@GrumpyOldGuyPlaysGamesNASA promotional materials cite no source for this. It appears in no NASA documents before 2015. You would think Glenn would have mentioned it at some point, or the NASA oral histories that run to thousands of pages going over every aspect of those missions. Ken Young, an aerospace engineer and Mercury alum who was interviewed at great length for those NASA histories, gave a good debunking illustrating why the story not only isn’t true, but can’t be true (for just one example, you can’t manually check those figures on a Friden Calculator like Johnson was using).
The Tom Hanks movie "Apollo 13" used the "vomit comet" for some of the sequences during the making of it. It added a sense of realism to many of the scenes.
I think the first time I understood Hidden Figures as a nod to the women we hadn't heard of before and not just to the hidden mathematics they were trying to figure out was when I cried the hardest. The story of these women was so overlooked until this movie came out. They were the REAL Hidden Figures. 😭😭
Hey Ashleigh, you CAN in fact experience 'zero-gravity' today, using the same technology they used to float around while filming the movie 'Apollo 13'. For about $5,000 per ticket, you can book a ride on one of the flights affectionately named the 'Vomit Comet', an airplane that flies continually up and down like a roller coaster, around 25 of such parabolic arcs. At the top, when the airplane tops out and starts down over the 'hump', you start to feel weightless for about 30 seconds. Of course, you pay for it when it bottoms out and you start to feel extra heavy as it climbs. Many people's stomachs do not react kindly to these movements, hence the name! 😎
"Can you go back on a typewriter?" Yes. On the manual ones, you can press the back button, but you have to blot out the letters by pressing "X". On IBM Selectric typewriters (the electric ones), you can backspace and change it just like a regular computer (but on actual paper). You can imagine how revolutionary they were at the time.
The Astronaut transfer truck was because the astronauts were quarantined in order to prevent them getting ill before or during the mission and so they had to have filtered clean air at all times including when in a transfer truck.
Great movie. As a boomer I can relate to the prejudices that existed having a few black friends and how they were treated by some other classmates in grade school.........we still have a long way to go. Another movie that underscores this recism is Red Tails. Well done movie about the all black squadron that escorted B 17 in WW II bombing missions. Let's continue to keep hope alive that we can turn the page and treat everyone as we would want to be treated - as equal..
Workplace segregation had been made illegal in the federal government in the late 19th century, but President Woodrow Wilson brought it back to southern states in the 1910s. Remember that in 1961 segregation was the law only in the old Confederate states (including Florida and Texas, both centers for the Space Program). Elsewhere, it was culturally practiced to different degrees. Lawful segregation ended two years later, in 1964, with the second Civil Rights Act. My mother, born in the 1920s in New England, never saw separate colored restrooms and fountains because it wasn't a thing in that part of the country. However, her mother's generation (born 1900-1918) used words like "darkies" and had attitudes, even in places like Vermont.
I wound up seeing this movie twice in the theaters because I thought it was so fantastic. The day it was released I bought it on digital so that way I could watch it at my leisure as much as I wanted to. It is truly a fantastic film. And I honestly think Taraji P. Henson was snubbed at the Oscars that year because she should have been nominated for best actress in a film. She may not have been able to win against the other actors in that category that year, but she should have been nominated because her performance in this role was utterly phenomenal and moving.
This one hits so close to home for me I had to click right away. I grew up right down from this facility. I have known this story and part of history and was taught in school back in the 70's and 80's. The author of this book graduated high school with me. So glad she was able to bring this to the nation.
Kind of fun watching your excitement over the idea of watching a rocket launch. When I was in grade school we were gathered in the school gym to watch ,on a small television, the first couple of astronauts launched. Like the rest of life experiences, the subsequent launches became passe. That is, until Apollo 11, the moon landing. People gathered everywhere for that one, and more so the moon landing.
37:51 "Can you go back on a typewriter? I've never used one." I sulk away to change the tennis balls on the legs of my walker and tell the kids to get off of my lawn.
Another movie in a similar vein is "October Sky" which is an anagram of "Rocket Boys" the autobiography the movie is based on. No, I am not comparing the two movies, just commenting that they have themes based in Rockets & math that align.
Your reaction is golden here; this is an amazing story ❤❤I always cry watching this movie till today July 2024....this movie is still very emotional for me......Thank God that they brought this TRUE STORY to light💯💯💯
An awesome series to watch based on the space race is From the Earth to the Moon, Produced by Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, All taking a look at all of the true stories that took place that got us into space and on the moon. Tom Hanks also directed two of the episodes.
I'm 71. I remember everything in this movie! And how the city turned off the street lights so we could watch Sputnik move across the night sky! And, yes. They've woven many actual film clips of the real people like Pres JFK! And this was mainly about 4 brave black women (who should be taught about in every classroom during Black History Month). But also about the lack of women period in high level work positions! Most stayed home. Others worked in ladies clothing shops et. My mom? She was 1 of only 5 women going to Chiropractic school in the late 1920s! Proud of my heritage position within a family of strong, independent women! 😊
"Can you go backward on a typewriter?" Yes - to a degree. You can roll the platen (the part that the paper rolls around) up and down. You can position the next typed character (but typing proceeds forward from there - you cannot type backwards). You can't erase characters, but Liquid Paper (a correction fluid) and later certain ribbons allowed you to cover characters with a white chalky substance. Liquid Paper was a liquid you brushed over characters on the paper. When it dried you could type on it. It was applied similar to how you might apply white nail polish. Excessive use of Liquid Paper could mean that the key strikes (the part that hit the paper), the Selectric type ball (a ball with all the characters on it that spun to strike a letter), or the daisy wheel (another kind of strike that was shaped like a flower) might need to be cleaned. The IBM Selectric ball and the daisy wheel were fairly easy to remove - the early key strikes were not designed to be removed by the average person. I'm getting old - Back in the 90s I ran into an unusual situation. Many people were transitioning to computer word processors. I was teaching courses on MS-DOS and common productivity apps. I was in a classroom where in the back there were several IBM Selectric typewriters (at the time, taking typing courses was still a requirement). I had a student in the MS-DOS course and I was trying to answer his question by comparing it to a typewriter. He asks, "What's a typewrite?". He's literally sitting in front of 25 of them. I noticed an accent and asked where he was from originally. He says, "Siberia". Not knowing what the Russian word for typewriter might be, I simply pointed to the typewriters and explain that these are typewriters. He looks blankly at them and says, "I've never seen one of these." Now, I had been in Poland during the cold war/Warsaw Pact period because a diplomat wanted me at a security meeting. Just in the public business space I had seen a typewriter in several offices, and in a few other places (they had different characters, but the principle was the same). I knew that the USSR had typewriters. However, I also knew that Siberia was basically a big prison camp at the time (and maybe still is). Maybe they didn't get to have typewriters? No idea. I do know that I couldn't talk the guy out of dropping the course.
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mV5bGIswTtQ/mqdefault.jpg)
"I don't know what an IBM is, is that like a computer?"
I'm done, close my casket lid and bury me deep.
Please take my 'SLIDE RULE' & 'PROTRACTOR' with you so they can be dug up in the Future by Talking Apes that ride Horses & shoot rifles. (Good 'call back' on Ashleigh's 'lack-of-info' public schools don't teach anymore.) Why do we even have book libraries anymore since obviously 'no young people' ever use them anymore?
I know, right!
I had the same response! I just don’t understand. SMH!!!
IBM = International Business Machines. The company that made the first computer.
There's like H-beams and I-beams. They are usually used in construction...
A couple of notes:
The scene where John Glenn asked to have “the girl check the numbers” is directly from the NASA transcript. John Glenn was a badass in every way imaginable.
Most people outside of NASA did not know about these ladies until recently. The woman who wrote the book that inspired the movie grew up knowing the ladies, but didn’t know how big a deal they all were because the women didn’t make a big deal about it. They all just saw it as part of doing their jobs. In my book, this makes them even bigger badasses.
What NASA transcript is the John Glenn story from? In Shetterly’s book, the story has no source except Katherine Johnson herself, interviewed in her 90s. John Glenn has never mentioned Johnson’s name.
John and i are buckeyes - were kind of head strong (or otherwise known as freaken stubborn!) Lol
@@billdouglas8701 The next thing you're going to claim is that she's not from Wakonda, which is just as factual as this film.
@@cobbler88what exactly is your issue with this film? Seems like you are overly butthurt about it. I have my suspicions as to why, but I'm dying to hear your explanation.
@@shartheheretic I'm sure you do have your suspicions. And I'm sure they're VERY basic.
I just have a thing against manipulating a narrative and selling it as fact so that the more ignorant members of the public pick up on it and regurgitate it as gospel.
Must be a personal failing of mine, no?
Take care.
Jim Parsons said he was embarrassed for not knowing this story before he did the movie because he grew up in Texas and was very into the space program.
Well half of it is BS so that might have something to do with it.
@@alphanerd7221they're talking about the real story before doing the movie what is BS there
"Can you go back on a typewriter? I've never used one." And now, I suddenly feel so incredibly old...
I do, too. I remember the IBM Selectric typewriter that didn't have a correcting ribbon.
@@SlimDaddy9 IBM Selectric II though, that was the typewriter for more than a decade, probably 15 years that was the go-to typewriter.
Haha me too!! ❤😂
And the liquid correction bottle! Such a nightmare! 😂
Learned on manual typewriter. I am old.😂
My grandmother worked as a calculator at NASA. She's the smartest person I know. ❤❤😊
That's so cool!!
computer. not calculator.
All the stories she must tell. Makes me miss mine. Love her.
@@gamergod9182 A Mental or human calculator is a person with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation (such as adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing large numbers). Mental calculators were in great demand in research centers such as CERN before the advent of modern electronic calculators and computers. The terms were often interchangeable.
My mom worked at NASA about the time of the movie (late 50's early 60's). She was one of several secretaries for Wernher Von Braun at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. I remember my mom telling me they were all "sworn to secrecy" and could not reveal to anyone what they were typing up in letters dictated from Von Braun.
Fun fact, your mobile phone has more computing power that that whole room-filling IBM machine did. A lot more.
Pretty sure a dollar store solar powered calculated beats it too.
nope@@dansmith7009
Wow
And imagine if the human computers had graphing calculators
@@scandalfan1667not back then!
The only thing funnier than her reading that it was Octavia Spenser and not Viola Davis is when she said Kevin Costner?? Like where was he at? 😂😂 I’m dying
I know! I was like - how did she not recognize him right away?? His voice is identifiable anywhere!
He was affecting an accent/speech impediment so I could see her missing his voice. But Costner looks like Costner! How did she miss his face?
That cracked me up too! But I had a feeling she might not catch on since I don't think she's seen any of his movies, has she?
I can't think of any. I just looked at his IMDB and OMG so many good ones that I forgot.
@@Jessica_Jones I don’t think she has watched any of his films on the channel yet so it makes sense. Still funny thou 😂
"Going where no woman has gone before to get a man where no man has gone before!!"
I never even thought of it like that. This movie always makes me cry happy tears!
Following orders and using math invented by men. 🤣
@@cobbler88 Man, you really can't stand the idea of black women getting credit for their work, huh?
@@krank23 I imagine if someone points out when some other film fudges the facts, you'll ignore the nut of the situation and accuse THEM of something as well, right?
I guess the film accomplished its job, peddling an inaccurate narrative to people who only see race. So sad.
@@krank23In this film, they’re getting credit for work they didn’t do. They were never pivotal figures in the space program.
@@krank23he really can't. All over these comments, dying on this ridiculous hill.
I met one of the engineers for the Apollo program when I was going through Lean/Six Sigma training at my current job. Those ladies were held in the highest regard by the NASA Rank and File employees
Thank you for getting us into SPACE & BEYOND.
That's good to know!
I met one of the Apollo 11 mission controllers at a First Nations powow - retired and traveling by RV with his wife from one gathering to the next. We got to talking - even in the early 2000s, they were gettng harassed with "dirty redskin" nonsense. Makes ya proud to be white. :-(
Awesome how she uses the judge
"He's a dick boss, but he's nice."
He's a hardass but fair, which is exactly the kind of person you need to get a bunch of absentminded engineers focused enough to accomplish something that's never been done before.
Didn't he not actually exist? I believe he was just a character made for the movie, same with the whole bathroom scene
@@Suileron Sort of yes, sort of no. The real person would not give permission to use his name or likeness so Costner's character is a composite of 3 different real life NASA bosses.
That be Kevin Costner, honey 😂😊❤Ashleigh, you acted like “what! Kevin Costner was in this movie!” 😂
I love the contrast in the two supervisors. Harrison is focused on his department’s task, which is good, but he is oblivious to the problems within his department’s staff until they interfere with that task. OTOH, Dorothy is fully aware of her staff and their capabilities, nurtures them, trains them to develop further, and brings everyone with her when she finally moves ahead.
Yeah, but he's also working directly with the rest of the government and military. He's under some extreme stress. It doesn't excuse that he doesn't know what's happening, but once he does, he knows exactly how badly it must be affecting things, because he's already identified her as the brightest person he has.
I wouldn't put too much thought into what was almost pure fiction by the time they got done with the screenplay. 🤣
@@cobbler88 Even if it was just a fictional construct, I still like the choice to contrast the supervisory styles.
@alexanderiel6950 The idea that we wouldn't have gone to space without these particular people doing some of the math is laughable, and means that it accomplished its goal of ... fudging ... the historical narrative.
A job well done, I guess. 🤣
@alexanderiel6950The US would absolutely have gotten into space without them. They were part of a team of hundreds that checked calculations; they didn’t write the equations or design the rockets. If those women had never been born, Neil Armstrong would have walked on the moon on the exact same day.
What do you think Von Braun and the Germans had been working on for two decades before this? The first Redstone rocket went up in 1958. Buzz Aldrin’s MIT thesis was about orbital rendezvous.
John Glenn was legit one of the nicest individuals ever known to humanity. And he was a kick ass pilot and astronaut.
Ashley would enjoy the scene where his wife won’t let LBJ in and he defends her
@@shawnmiller4781 Yeah. Since she likes this NASA stuff, I bet that she would like "The Right Stuff".
@@jgw5491 I second on the suggestion for "The Right Stuff.'
It also happens to be a pretty funny movie with few reactions to it.
And he wanted to live.
I was born in 1967, and growing up John Glenn was one of my biggest heroes. He still is.
What a great cast of ladies! Taraji never disappoints, Janelle is incredible, and Octavia Spencer always brings a lot of heart.
When she said "I like this lady!" My brain immediately went "well, yeah, it's Taraji P. Henson, it's physically impossible not to find her charming!"
@@carlalussini That's a great description of Taraji. She's a phenomenal actress.
Minnie don’t burn chicken 😏
In WWII, there were groups of women in England also called computers, who did the code interception and code breaking. These women weren't even allowed to tell their families what they were doing, threatened with arrest for espionage and treason under the "Official Secrets Act". 6 Decades later, they were finally recognized and allowed to speak of the work they did that helped the Allies win the war.
No one learns in school about the people who make the great things happen. The big names are all we learn, because who has time to know every engineer in the space program, every physicist on the Manhattan Project, every captain who helped train troops for D-Day.
The shots inside the Mercury made it look much bigger inside than it actually was. As John Glenn himself said, "You don't fly a Mercury capsule, you wear it."
Seats custom-formed to the pilot by name.
When we made those capsules for this movie, both capsules had to be split in half vertically, so they could be fitted around the metal pipe you see in the wind tunnel (which was a real and functioning tunnel in Smyrna/Marietta GA at Lockheed adjacent to Dobbins ARB), and one was made to be split vertically, so if so desired, they could dress out a cockpit. There was a chance that we were going to get that contract, but looks like it went to someone else. The film only had a budget of 25 million, and they were exceeding it near the end of the film.
One funny thing, when it aired, a friend of mine asked me "you didn't do that crappy Mercury interior where John Glenn was sitting, did you?"
@@scottlyttle5586 LOL. Seriously?
@@spdcrzy yep..seriously! The film business is crazy.
One of the requirements of becoming an astronaut was to be under 6' tall. Pete Conrad topped out at 5'6" (like me!)
Remember, women have ALWAYS been in STEM jobs. One of the first computer programmers (as there is some debate) was actually a woman named Ada Lovelace in the 1840's, the daughter of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke Byron. She was a mathematician who wrote a series of simple instructions to perform complex calculations for a machine that had yet to be built (and would never be built during her lifetime). It is considered an early form of an algorithm.
Katherine Johnson was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom (long overdue & absolutely deserved) in 2015 when she was 96 years old.
Dorothy Vaughan &Mary Jackson were posthumously awarded Congressional Gold medals in 2019.
ETA: RE 0 gravity chamber-have you considered indoor skydiving? Not precisely the same but you would be floating..
Indoor skydiving is crazy fun. I did it for my 16th birthday.
A 'cheap way' to do the Gravity Spin is to use a city park, or school yard "Merry-Go-Round" IF any are still available. Most 'Spinning Wheels' in park are banned these days because of 'accidents' that have injured people & pets, so don't expect to ever see them used again for FUN & GAMES, since 'those days' are all gone now.
As far as I know, the only way, not including being in orbit to achieve less gravity is in a specially modified cargo plane that performs this effect. NASA uses one and it's called the Vomit Comet for obvious reasons.
My sons new son just did ifly for his 16th birthday. He loved it!!
If the truth was actually reflected by this film, it wouldn't have taken so long. But, sadly, this was almost pure fiction by the time the screenplay was finished.
Ashley... How on earth did you not recognize Kevin Costner?? 😂
It was the glasses, I am sure of it! 😂
Seeing how stressed you were during the actual orbit sequence I'm guessing you wouldn't do well with Apollo 13. Still gonna recommend it, it's amazing and uplifting.
Both films part of, as Patrick Willem defined it, NASA's cinematic universe.
Add THE RIGHT STUFF
And HBO's 12-part docudrama series "From the Earth to the Moon". Also "First Man". (I didn't care for it myself, but that shouldn't stop anyone else from watching - and enjoying it.
Katherine Johnson is an absolute fucking LEGEND. The scene where Glenn asks that the IBM work be double-checked by Katherine is exactly what happened in real life.
Also, real or not, that dinner table proposal was BEAUTIFUL. I feel like social media has conditioned us to believe that grand expressions of love are the only "true" way to show your appreciation for someone, but him proposing with his mother's ring at HER table while she's sitting with her kids and mom is a more personal, enduring memory than any grand gesture could ever be.
The dog the USSR put into space was named Laika and yes, She eventually died of suffocation in orbit. However, I know You've been watching the Marvel movies and in the Guardians of the Galaxy You'll see a dog in a space suit, and that's Her. In the Marvel universe, she gets powers similar to how the Fantastic Four got powers and goes on many adventures of Her own.
wrong breed of dog so not a 1 to 1
True, but it was supposed to be the same dog. If Marvel can't even get Thor's hammer right, can't expect much accuracy with a dog. lol
@@Runescope The Marvel dog also has a different name, although that may be so they will not get sued by Laika's family. 😝
Initially, Soviet publications claimed that the dog died, painlessly, after a week in Earth orbit. But that account has been called into question over the years. "Decades later, several Russian sources revealed that Laika survived in orbit for four days and then died when the cabin overheated."
Laika inspired the creation of the Marvel character Cosmo the Spacedog. In the comic books, Cosmo is a male dog. In the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, director James Gunn made his version of Cosmo a female dog to honor Laika.
@@Runescope not just his hammer, they didn't even get his hair color right! Lol
This is all very recent in terms of history; Katherine Johnson passed away only four years ago, on Feb 24, 2020 at the amazing age of 101. Incredible women, incredible movie.
Kirsten Dunst as the older blonde woman. To think I can remember her as a kid in interview with a vampire.
To me she'll always be Amy in "Little Women." 😊
I still picture her in Bring It On even though I haven't seen it in years
Reminds me, Ashleigh still hasn't seen 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' on the channel.
Same 😂
I remember her more from Small Soldiers and Jumanji
“Yeah, it’s called seniority, get over it” oh Ashleigh is 100% the oldest sibling lmao
I recommend Apollo 13 (1995) starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxon, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise & Ed Harris. Inspired by the events of the actual mission.
Plus several million points for the Spectrum symbol as your avatar,
Spectrum is Green.
Apollo 13 is _fabulous!_
A lot more truthful than this film.
Also “The Right Stuff” which covers the mercury astronauts
Most people would rather have a very tough boss as long as they are fair, than a "nice" boss that doesn't enforce accountability or have the courage to lead.
I've had both, and could not agree with you more.
Or the courage to chastise,correct and discipline his employees also.
@@kerry-j4mif you can lead and correct, nobody needs to be chastised. That’s just an emotionally immature person taking their anger out on someone else. I’ve lead many teams and successfully run multiple locations at store level before moving onto district management, and I never had to chastise anyone, insult them, “rake them over the coals,” yell, curse, or intimidate anyone. You hire and train people properly, lead by example, and hold people accountable, true. But no grown adult needs to be chastised at work. That’s not what adults do.
What I love is that Mary Jackson did get exactly what she was wanting, Night Classes for Engineering, she had to keep her day job at NASA during the day. But as an engineer and a very big fan of the the space race, I already knew Kathrine's contrubution due to John Glenn's speach saying he would not trust anyone else's number for his launches because Kathrine was always right, and the comuters kept saying it could not be done. But NASA really did set the stage for a lot of segregation policies being done away on all NASA facilities first and then on to all military facilities as well
That part about John Glenn and Katherine Johnson is completely fictional. It never happened. There is no source for it other than Katherine Johnson,in her 90s, claiming it happened.
@o.b.7217 It matters because such a wild claim (that no previous historian of the space program had ever heard of) requires some verification.
@@billdouglas8701You seem not to realize how much history has only one attribution.
@@kirkdarling4120Hundreds of books written about Mercury and the space program, millions of pages of documentation, yet nobody ever heard this wild tale until 2015 (at a moment when it suits what has become the country’s reigning ideology). And the story has no source of any kind but the fuzzy memories of an old lady in her 90s.
@@kirkdarling4120RUclips apparently won’t allow me to post the link, but google “hiddenfigurescritique.” Google it exactly like that, with no spaces. It’s a fairly technical writeup by two still living Mercury vets, one of whom worked at the desk next to Katherine Johnson’s. It goes into great detail about NASA procedures and how the “John Glenn” story cannot be true, just to add to the weight of all the other reasons it’s so unlikely. The writeups were compiled by Charles Murray, who wrote what most space program vets of that era believe was the best book on the engineers and technicians of Apollo.
Growing up in the '80s when the space shuttle first started its missions we would all pause in awe of the spectacle. We also know exactly where we were when the challenger exploded. The whole world came to a standstill and grieved together. What a day that was.
This was such a good movie and tastefully covered some of the most distasteful happenings in the US at that time. We have worked so hard to get rid of segregation and I start seething when I see supposedly High Thinking Universities bringing back racial segregation in student housing, common spaces, graduation ceremonies and even some classes. It revolting to think about!
I'm with you about that!
These women won. They won by using intelligence and dignity. Respect to them!
There was a video of the real and very elderly Katherine Johnson in a wheelchair being wheeled by her daughter onto the stage at an awards ceremony for this movie. She got a long standing ovation from all the celebreties in the audience. Her daughter stooped down and whispered to her, "Say thanks." Katherine waited a moment, then quietly said, "Thank you." She clearly understood that this praise was for her. I wept watching that. Someone said she never believed that she deserved any praise. but I was glad she got it.
I just turned 69 last month. I remember Whites only bathrooms, water fountains. My best friend as kid was Derek Whitwell, a Black kid. When we went to the movies I sat in the balcony with my friend. After I turned 9 the Civil Rights Bill was passed in 1964 after we moved from Bowling Green, KY to Indianapolis.
A few years ago, Derek's sister called to tell me some White Boys ran Derek off the road and he died in the crash. I hate bigots.
I think it's beautiful that, thanks to you being vulnerable and sharing this story here, he has also become a hidden figure no more. May he always be surrounded by loving light.
"A few years ago..." 😒😥😓
Omg.... I'm so sorry! It's so sad what hate does to ppl. All based on something that none of us chooses, color of our skin. ❤
My Dad is 69 and I remember him taking me to his childhood small town movie theater that was also segregated. We sat up in the balcony. It was an eye-opening experience for this Gen X kid that grew up accepting of all people's race/sexuality/religion/etc.
I'm 62 and I was raised in the West. Racism was directed toward people of Hispanic descent. Blacks were rare and actually celebrated. Another form of racism. I never understood why any of it mattered, even though I participated fully in it.
John Glenn was good people. He was a testament to his good nature, unbiased views, and love of his country and its people. His wife was awesome, too. It was a sad day when we lost him. These ladies paved the way for women and women of color everywhere. With Katherine Johnson passing away only a few years ago at 101 years old, she broke so many barriers. We have a doll of her in our house "working" at NASA, badge and all. She's important to our discussions about women and Black History Month (and every month!). So glad you got to watch this. It's an amazingly done movie and Taraji P. Henson was brilliant in it!
"They're more worried about how she figured it out?"
Yup. It's not obvious, but he's already realizing just how smart, and vital, she is going to be to the program. He's not worried that she figured out... he's worried that "the bad guys" could figure out in the same way.
Low key I have the “I have the right to see fine in every color” quote saved as a gif on my phone. ❤😂
Which I've reduced to practice. I'd never heard of Taraji Henson before, but have had a crush on her from the 1st time I saw this flick!
I learned about these women in the 60's while writing computer programs in high school. Our female instructor made sure we knew about these women. They inspired many people to do their best and go further than they ever dreamed possible.
Wonderful true story, but too bad the movie had to embellish it so much
The NASA transfer van for the astronauts makes total sense. They need to be kept as germ-free as possible, and if they're in their spacesuits they are not up to walking the distance or trying to squeeze into a car.
Wasn't there also a concern about static at the time as well?
Exactly.
@@j.munday7913 Nope. That came after Apollo 1.
"If i had to do math all day, oooo, I'd be a b!tch." You are a joy to watch, dear Ashleigh. Peace, all 💕
"Apollo two..." Apollo 11 (eleven) went to the moon. My uncle was a JPL engineer on that project.
Right before he went up in the space shuttle to become the oldest man to go to space John Glenn visited my elementary school classroom and talked to us all about space exploration. Maybe a week later we all gathered around the TV and watched the man we met actually fly into space. It really inspired lifelong love of all things space science and I'll always be grateful to him for it.
"You are not a computer, you are a human being."
Computer is a job description. The modern use of the word refers to machines that do it automatically, but at the time, it referred to people.
FYI, there's no such thing as a zero gravity chamber. The closest we've got is the "Vomit Comet" - a KC 135 aircraft which goes into a series of steep dives to give you time in free fall which is the same as zero gravity.
After that, it is a pool of water.
Vomit comet 😭
Zero-G , a private company, could hook her up.
That’s why it’s called “Hidden Figures.” We never knew. I’m so sad that I never knew about these incredible ladies until this film. But I know now!
That nice Mr. John guy, was Astronaut John Glenn, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. He was the 3rd American to go to space after Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom flew sub-orbital flights, and he was the first American to orbit the Earth in his Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7. He was later a US Senator from Ohio, and became the oldest American to go to space at age 77 when he was a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. That record stood until it was twice broken in 2021 when first Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk broke it at age 82, and then later in the year, William Shatner broke her record at age 90. AFAIK, he currently holds the record.
And he shot down three MiG's in Korea. here's a pic of his jet, Mig Mad Marine indeed...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:F-86_%27MiG_Mad_Marine%27.jpg
I stood in an electronics store in 1998 to watch him launch on the shuttle with a large crowd. What an amazing accomplishment.
@@capnmoby13I hate to confess that I'm old enough to recall the Apollo missions very clearly. I kinda remember some of the later Gemini's but don't have independent memory of any of the Mercury's though. I was only around 5 or 6 at that point
I love the fact that William Shatner finally got to go to space.
I hope as many Star Trek (and Star Wars!) actors as possible can do the same. 🥰🥰
@@mena94x3After Shatner got back from space he started to give a heartfelt speech about his real space experience and Jeff Bezos cut him off rudely and opened a champagne bottle in Shatner's face, who's been known to be a recovering alcoholic.
Surprised that you picked out Jim Parsons (Sheldon) before Kevin Costner. I knew you would love, love, love this movie however. Some great historical shots in this movie and you're right, we should have heard more about these women long before now. I lived through the entire space race and never knew of or heard of them until this movie came out. Bravo to them.
I’m surprised you’re watching with subtitles now. Nice touch. I mean it.👍🏽
More importantly, Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, and Octavia Spencer are always a win.
"What an amazing history!" - Absolutely. Kind of makes you wonder why most people never even hear about it in school. Makes you wonder, also, how many other important parts of our history we never find out about. And how such a huge percentage of students come out of school hating history and wanting nothing to do with it ever again. Almost makes ME wonder if schools are really trying to HELP us...
Sounds like you don’t wonder at all…😔
Another great example is Amber Ruffin’s episode on hidden towns. Specifically formerly Black towns that are now currently under man-made lakes predominately White people vacation on with their lake houses and boats.
@@stevenandcarminabeedle9089 Yeah. I would say that do I try to stay open to the possibility of being wrong about any particular belief, but my views on education are pretty made up - and backed up by reams of evidence - these days.
We should never forget that racism is not just ignorance, but the coincidence of ignorance with ARROGANCE. Now, ignorance is almost synonymous with being human, and thus, unavoidable. But adding arrogance on top of that - thinking you're one of the "Elect", somehow, and trying to deny your natural, human limits - that's a killer. There is no bound to the evil you can perpetrate then.
"Viola Davis" That's Octavia Spencer. They're both in the movie "The Help" maybe that's why you associate one with the other.
"The fact that I didn't know about any of these women in high school..." YES! That is the absolute worst part of this. So much history isn't taught, simply because someone was the wrong sex, or the wrong race, or the wrong religion. It's horrifying to think about at times.
Being from the boomer generation, I am still learning. When I learned there was a black theater and black stars I was devastated. So much talent missed and lost. Once I learned a native American opera singer performed in Europe came home and was ignored. Or the talent in Porgy & Bess would have lost if it wasn't for that musical. Let use us never lose our humanity again.
You may have not run into him yet, but Marsheala Ali has been in 3 different Marvel projects. He played a villain in the Netflix series Luke Cage, played Uncle Aaron in the Spider-Verse movies, and has been cast as the new Blade in the upcoming remake. He is an amazing actor.
Mahershalah is from my hometown! I know people who worked with him before he was an actor. He was a deckhand on boats.
He's also the pianist in "The Green Book."
He has won two Oscars, for Green Book and for Moonlight. He's the real deal. And he was great as Cottonmouth in Luke Cage -- one of the highlights of that series. Hopefully, Ashleigh will watch those Netflix Marvel series as part of her MCU adventure.
Maybe she remembers him from The Hunger Games? He's very um... Memorable 🔥
@o.b.7217 in the video she said she might have remembered him from Marvel. I don't know if she has seen any other movie he has been in.
Watching a movie with you is a pure, unadulterated joy! Thank you so much for making these videos.
The the second point you said, "This movie's going to make me cry," I was already on my second or third tearing-up. Love this movie.
As I'm scrolling through these comments before I watch your reaction, I'm already tearing up.
Anyone with any emotion crys knowing & seeing this Visual Factual historical story.
I was crying before she even started the reaction. I cry when I think of this movie, not out of sadness, but out of pride, for these women, and how they had a hand in changing the world.
@@maryrichardson1318 Absolutely. I don't tear up for the sad parts but the happy tender ones. Oh which the movie is almost end-to-end filled with.
“In front of God and everybody??” You crack me up!! 😂😂😂
Cosmo didn't die in space she's at nowhere being a good dog
"I got that!" (said in Captain America)
26:11 This is one of the slight tweaks to reality within the movie.
1) there were colored bathrooms in most buildings (not all, but most) and in all campus sections, not just the West Campus.
2) from the start Katherine Johnson used the white bathrooms (mainly because they weren't labeled either way). It was a couple years before someone said something to her about it, she let that roll off her back and that was the only time it was said.
3) Mary Jackson dealt with more of a problem with the bathrooms. The white ladies just giggled at her when she first asked where the nearest colored bathroom was when she was outside the West campus. Again, there were bathrooms in most buildings, so although she didn't have to run back to the W.campus, she _did_ waste a bunch of time trying to find which buildings had them, and where in the buildings they were.
...4) Dorothy Vaughan became NACA's first black supervisor in 1948 (more than a decade before when this movie was set), and received supervisor pay...
There are a lot of other interesting bits the movie got right and wrong. My favorite "got it right" moment was the scene with John Glenn insisting "the girl" check the math regarding his flight. Apparently it happened IRL almost word-for-word as the movie portrayed it.
The John Glenn story is almost certainly false, and there is no source for it other than the memories and claims of a 93 year old lady. Shetterly’s book has no documentation other than that, and she had access to all the files and transcripts. Nor is it mentioned in any other history or memoir of the space program; John Glenn never mentioned Katherine Johnson’s name in his life. That scene is a prime example of how fake history gets taken as fact.
@@billdouglas8701 - I would bet my life she was a hell of a lot more lucid at 92 than Biden is at 81. With other character traits of John Glenn well known, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that part of the movie were correct.
NASA never had racially segregated bathrooms. It was indifferent to race from he beginning.
@@mena94x3 Biden is perfectly lucid you rube.
@@alphanerd7221 - NASA, perhaps, but its predecessor, NACA _did_ have segregated bathrooms, but racism on campus wasn't as big a problem on campus as it was made to look in the movie. (as is the case with many movies)
"We've never had a Colored in here before, Katherine."
One never realizes how disrespectful it is for an adjective to be used as a noun refering to a person until it happens to you.
Ruby Bridges, the first Black girl to go to a White school, is still alive.
The first Black people born with equal rights under the law (whether or not in fact or practice) are less than 60 years old.
And now we see the same arguments used for similar bigotry against a different marginalized group.
@@JeshuaSquirrel If you're talking about illegal aliens then SHUT UP! Plus blacks have it better in America than any other country in the world, even though they make up almost 50% of violent criminals while only being 13% of the population.
Something you seem to be confused about initially: "Computer" used to be a completely human profession - mostly women who "just" sat and did number-crunching. That's why "computers don't file reports". They weren't expected to provide creative input. They were eventually replaced by the "electronic computer".
I used to work in the property management department of a good sized Maryland bank. Over the years we had bought up more than a few small old banks, and inherited all their deeds and lease agreements. I ran across one deed from the 1920s for a plot of land a bank branch was built on. It contained a restrictive covenant prohibiting resale of the land to anyone of a litany of racial, ethnic and religious groups.
God, isn't that nuts?
It's more common than you think. You'll find them on houses from the 50s from Minneapolis to California.
Sounds about right. Same for land to build on for homes as well.
@@chrismorgan9153yeah. It’s a way to low key keep those “laws and policies” around. I doubt they’re strictly enforced, but Mississippi only officially abolished slavery in 1995 I think so 🤷🏽♀️
I like that though the movie focuses on Katherine, all three of the lead characters were strong women who pushed to accomplish their dreams, and succeeded.
Ashliegh, if you want to know more about John Glenn and the early space program, I recommend, "The Right Stuff". A really good movie about the early years of the space race.
Yes, absolutely watch "The Right Stuff". It's an amazing movie
I concur. "The Right Stuff" is amazing and has the real Chuck Yeager in a bit part.
@@EastPeakSlim When I saw it in theaters and Chuck Yeager came on the screen, I thought to myself, "I've seen that guy in something else. He looks so familiar." It wasn't until I saw his name in the credits that I finally put it together and facepalmed right there in the theater.
The space dog Laika was a stray found in Moscow and trained along with a few other dogs for the space mission. Interesting fact is that many stray dogs in Moscow have learned to use the subways to get around the city routinely repeating the same routes (not wandering randomly) showing many of those strays to be highly intelligent. Sadly Laika did not survive her trip to space since no means to return her were built into the mission parameters.
It was cool to watch a rocket launch back when it was a real coin toss if it'd work or not. I vividly remember staying up late to watch Apollo 11 touchdown on the moon. We didn't have AC and it was brutal hot. We had an old console black and white TV. It held together long enough to see the live feed, "One small step..." Soon after, one of the tubes burned out. We had to get the trouble shooting card. We picked the closest malfunction, opened the back and pulled the tube the card suggested. We took the tube to the pharmacy and plugged it into the gigantic tube tester machine up by the entrance. It failed. We bought a new one, put it in and it was all good. Good times...
I'm glad we no longer use Vacumn Tubes, I hated it when my local store 'Tester Machine' didn't have 'THE TUBE' I needed for my Radio or Black-n-White TV. I had to get a friend to drive me around to several locations to find 'one'. Thanks for the flying saucer 'micro-processors' we use these days, now we just 'buy' a whole complete TV/Video Screen instead.
I remember going to the store with my dad when he had go test those TV tubes. I have no idea why, but I always wanted to go along.
I'm reminded of Scotty on Star Trek deriding the systems of an obsolete space ship for its use of "bulky transistors."
It's funny to think that back then, "computer" was a job title. When IBM business machines were introduced, they were called "electronic computers" because they did the work of a computer. Very soon after that, the word "computer" started being used exclusively for machines, and people who were good at math were called "human computers."
I can remember when they were popularly called "electronic brains" in the 1950s
One of my favorite trivia bits for this film is the script for the phone call from Glenn from the pad was taken straight from the transcript.
In 2018, 2 years after he performed as Colonel Johnson in this movie, Mahershala Ali won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in another reality-based movie, “Green Book” in which he plays the role of the great musician, Dr. Donald Shirley, who actually LIVED at Carnegie Hall.
I sent you a copy of that movie a few months back. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor and the film won Best Picture and Best Screenplay Oscars that year.
Which was his second Oscar. His first was the Moonlight.
Which was his second Oscar. His first was the Moonlight.
"That'd be a horrible way to die". In 2003 the Space Shuttle Colombia acured damage on the Left wing heat shielding during lift off. Upon reentry the damaged area could not withstand the intense heat. Hot gasses burned into the wing and compromised the wing structure and it broke causing the shuttle to become unstable and fully break apart. It killed all seven astronauts;
Rick Husband, commander
William C. McCool, pilot
Michael P. Anderson, mission specialist
Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist
David M. Brown, mission specialist
Laurel Clark, mission specialist
Ilan Ramon, payload specialist.
The Debris Field spanned across more than 2,400 square miles of Texas and Louisiana. Some remains of all crew was recovered. Unlike the Challenger disaster, these astronauts probably knew they were going to die. This hits, because the Columbia was the first Space Shuttle launched in 1981.
I was driving to work at the time the shuttle was supposed to be re-entering the atmosphere... I kept looking to the sky hoping to see them... till the announcement they were "lost", and not yet understanding what that meant (trying to process)
'Based on true events' is true. Like most movies about real people, dramatic licence has been taken to help tell the story. Katherine Goble/Johnson was asked during an interview what her experience with racism was at NASA, she said that in all her years at NASA she experienced only one incident of racism, this occured in a ladies bathroom. That's pretty remarkable given the situation elsewhere in America at the time.
You need to see Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Kevin Costner is great in this & Alan Rickman steals the show!
Ashleigh, I LOVE your heart for what is right! Your parents did a GREAT job with showing you what is the way to treat people. You're always welcome at the cookout Sis!
I worked on this film! I built the two Mercury Capsules. This was filmed in Feb-March 2016, and released in December 2016. It was nominated for two Oscars, but didn't win either. My name isn't in the credits, but my friend played one of the astronauts, and even he didn't get a film credit, either!
that is awesome
I ALSO worked on this film 😂. Crazy-small world, I worked with the costumer’s personal team. This is my favorite project that I’ve ever been a part of.
@joshuacoldwater no you didn't
@ZoomerStasiShhhhhh. They don’t want to hear that. They want to believe it’s all true because it fits their narrative.
@ZoomerStasi you might want to read Margot Shetterly's book that the film is based on. The movie does have some stylized drama, and isn't totally historically accurate, but it's generally correct. NASA was one of the more forward thinking government entities, as it was also a relative young agency at the time history period of the movie. NASA was officially opened Oct 1, 1958. The movie takes place in the early 60's.
Ashleigh, never apologize for what you don't know. Instead, learn it. You have a long life ahead of you to do so.
"Kevin Costner??" 😂
I absolutely adore the movie Hidden Figures. Thank you for your reaction! Another African-American true story to watch and research is that of Ms. Henrietta Lacks. Her story is also amazing.
Agree with the others. Time for her to watch The Right Stuff (1983).
I was privileged enough to watch two early Space Shuttle liftoffs from the press area, which is about 3.5 miles from the launchpad. You would not believe how powerful the rumble is, even from that distance away. When I was young in the 1960's, I devoured any news stories and reports about the astronauts and knew quite a lot about them and NASA as well. For example, from my reading, I knew there were some women who acted as computers (the word was used for persons who did calculations before being used for the machines that replaced them), BUT I do not remember any stories mentioning that they were black at that time (I learned that later). That fact was probably downplayed in the media (that talked about them at all), and you certainly never saw them in video of NASA, only lots of men in white shirts and dark thin ties. This movie was a truly an inspirational and uplifting gem. There is a video (you'll find it on RUclips) of Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek and Alan Bean, the 4th man to walk on the Moon, doing NASA recruitment in the 1970's
The part of Ms. Johnson was played by Taraji P. Henson
I don’t do a lot of reaction videos but I love yours. Every emotion and comment u made I felt thoroughly through each scene
John Glenn asking Katherine to double check the numbers absolutely happened.
It did not. There is no source for that story other than Katherine Johnson claiming it, as a confused old woman in her 90s. John Glenn has never mentioned Katherine Johnson’s name.
NASA says it happened. NASA is not known for being untruthful. You might be a sour bastard who cannot accept the truh, but I am not
@@GrumpyOldGuyPlaysGamesNASA promotional materials cite no source for this. It appears in no NASA documents before 2015. You would think Glenn would have mentioned it at some point, or the NASA oral histories that run to thousands of pages going over every aspect of those missions.
Ken Young, an aerospace engineer and Mercury alum who was interviewed at great length for those NASA histories, gave a good debunking illustrating why the story not only isn’t true, but can’t be true (for just one example, you can’t manually check those figures on a Friden Calculator like Johnson was using).
@@billdouglas8701 Okay racist.
The Tom Hanks movie "Apollo 13" used the "vomit comet" for some of the sequences during the making of it. It added a sense of realism to many of the scenes.
Ma'am, that's Octavia Spencer lol.
I think the first time I understood Hidden Figures as a nod to the women we hadn't heard of before and not just to the hidden mathematics they were trying to figure out was when I cried the hardest. The story of these women was so overlooked until this movie came out.
They were the REAL Hidden Figures. 😭😭
Hey Ashleigh, you CAN in fact experience 'zero-gravity' today, using the same technology they used to float around while filming the movie 'Apollo 13'. For about $5,000 per ticket, you can book a ride on one of the flights affectionately named the 'Vomit Comet', an airplane that flies continually up and down like a roller coaster, around 25 of such parabolic arcs. At the top, when the airplane tops out and starts down over the 'hump', you start to feel weightless for about 30 seconds. Of course, you pay for it when it bottoms out and you start to feel extra heavy as it climbs. Many people's stomachs do not react kindly to these movements, hence the name! 😎
"Can you go back on a typewriter?"
Yes. On the manual ones, you can press the back button, but you have to blot out the letters by pressing "X". On IBM Selectric typewriters (the electric ones), you can backspace and change it just like a regular computer (but on actual paper). You can imagine how revolutionary they were at the time.
The Astronaut transfer truck was because the astronauts were quarantined in order to prevent them getting ill before or during the mission and so they had to have filtered clean air at all times including when in a transfer truck.
"Is it cool to watch a rocket launch?"
Not when you're in a classroom and the ship's name is Challenger... 😭😭😭
Great movie. As a boomer I can relate to the prejudices that existed having a few black friends and how they were treated by some other classmates in grade school.........we still have a long way to go. Another movie that underscores this recism is Red Tails. Well done movie about the all black squadron that escorted B 17 in WW II bombing missions. Let's continue to keep hope alive that we can turn the page and treat everyone as we would want to be treated - as equal..
Workplace segregation had been made illegal in the federal government in the late 19th century, but President Woodrow Wilson brought it back to southern states in the 1910s.
Remember that in 1961 segregation was the law only in the old Confederate states (including Florida and Texas, both centers for the Space Program). Elsewhere, it was culturally practiced to different degrees. Lawful segregation ended two years later, in 1964, with the second Civil Rights Act.
My mother, born in the 1920s in New England, never saw separate colored restrooms and fountains because it wasn't a thing in that part of the country. However, her mother's generation (born 1900-1918) used words like "darkies" and had attitudes, even in places like Vermont.
I wound up seeing this movie twice in the theaters because I thought it was so fantastic. The day it was released I bought it on digital so that way I could watch it at my leisure as much as I wanted to. It is truly a fantastic film.
And I honestly think Taraji P. Henson was snubbed at the Oscars that year because she should have been nominated for best actress in a film. She may not have been able to win against the other actors in that category that year, but she should have been nominated because her performance in this role was utterly phenomenal and moving.
Yes Kirsten Dunst - not the first time she's been invoied in space - she was in a Star Trek: the Next Generation episode in 1993.
This one hits so close to home for me I had to click right away. I grew up right down from this facility. I have known this story and part of history and was taught in school back in the 70's and 80's. The author of this book graduated high school with me. So glad she was able to bring this to the nation.
Kind of fun watching your excitement over the idea of watching a rocket launch. When I was in grade school we were gathered in the school gym to watch ,on a small television, the first couple of astronauts launched. Like the rest of life experiences, the subsequent launches became passe. That is, until Apollo 11, the moon landing. People gathered everywhere for that one, and more so the moon landing.
37:51 "Can you go back on a typewriter? I've never used one." I sulk away to change the tennis balls on the legs of my walker and tell the kids to get off of my lawn.
Another movie in a similar vein is "October Sky" which is an anagram of "Rocket Boys" the autobiography the movie is based on. No, I am not comparing the two movies, just commenting that they have themes based in Rockets & math that align.
Your reaction is golden here; this is an amazing story ❤❤I always cry watching this movie till today July 2024....this movie is still very emotional for me......Thank God that they brought this TRUE STORY to light💯💯💯
An awesome series to watch based on the space race is From the Earth to the Moon, Produced by Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, All taking a look at all of the true stories that took place that got us into space and on the moon. Tom Hanks also directed two of the episodes.
Fun fact. Octavia Spencer was in Spider-Man with Kirsten Dunst. She was the girl who signed Peter up for the wrestling match.
This was a very good movie. These three women made a tremendous contribution to the Space Program and much more. Respect!
You didn't recognize Costner?!? You probably didn't even know John Glenn was a U.S. Senator either.
I'm 71. I remember everything in this movie! And how the city turned off the street lights so we could watch Sputnik move across the night sky! And, yes. They've woven many actual film clips of the real people like Pres JFK!
And this was mainly about 4 brave black women (who should be taught about in every classroom during Black History Month). But also about the lack of women period in high level work positions! Most stayed home. Others worked in ladies clothing shops et. My mom? She was 1 of only 5 women going to Chiropractic school in the late 1920s! Proud of my heritage position within a family of strong, independent women! 😊
Sounds like it is time for Ashleigh to see The Right Stuff.
She's going to love "Spam in a can."
"Can you go backward on a typewriter?" Yes - to a degree. You can roll the platen (the part that the paper rolls around) up and down. You can position the next typed character (but typing proceeds forward from there - you cannot type backwards). You can't erase characters, but Liquid Paper (a correction fluid) and later certain ribbons allowed you to cover characters with a white chalky substance. Liquid Paper was a liquid you brushed over characters on the paper. When it dried you could type on it. It was applied similar to how you might apply white nail polish. Excessive use of Liquid Paper could mean that the key strikes (the part that hit the paper), the Selectric type ball (a ball with all the characters on it that spun to strike a letter), or the daisy wheel (another kind of strike that was shaped like a flower) might need to be cleaned. The IBM Selectric ball and the daisy wheel were fairly easy to remove - the early key strikes were not designed to be removed by the average person. I'm getting old - Back in the 90s I ran into an unusual situation. Many people were transitioning to computer word processors. I was teaching courses on MS-DOS and common productivity apps. I was in a classroom where in the back there were several IBM Selectric typewriters (at the time, taking typing courses was still a requirement). I had a student in the MS-DOS course and I was trying to answer his question by comparing it to a typewriter. He asks, "What's a typewrite?". He's literally sitting in front of 25 of them. I noticed an accent and asked where he was from originally. He says, "Siberia". Not knowing what the Russian word for typewriter might be, I simply pointed to the typewriters and explain that these are typewriters. He looks blankly at them and says, "I've never seen one of these." Now, I had been in Poland during the cold war/Warsaw Pact period because a diplomat wanted me at a security meeting. Just in the public business space I had seen a typewriter in several offices, and in a few other places (they had different characters, but the principle was the same). I knew that the USSR had typewriters. However, I also knew that Siberia was basically a big prison camp at the time (and maybe still is). Maybe they didn't get to have typewriters? No idea. I do know that I couldn't talk the guy out of dropping the course.