Pioneering astronaut John Glenn remembered by Hidden Figures cast at premiere
Glenn, who died last week, was the first American to orbit the Earth. The stars of the film about the African-American women who crunched the numbers for Nasa talk about his contributions to race and gender equality
John Glenn, depicted in Hidden Figures as a space trailblazer who also gave critical support to pioneering black women at Nasa who helped him orbit the Earth, was fondly remembered by the cast at the film’s premiere.
“He’s a hero. John Glenn was always on the right side of history. During a time when these women, because of their gender and the colour of their skin, were often treated like second-class citizens, he extended his hand, and he trusted women, and women of colour, with his life,” says Janelle Monae, one of the film’s stars.
Glenn, a former Democratic senator, died last week at the age of 95. Also a former military pilot in the second world war and the Korean war, he became a national hero in 1962 for his space flight.
Hidden Figures tells the story of a trio of African-American mathematicians, called “computers,” at Nasa in the early 1960s who helped get him there.
Empire star Taraji P. Henson portrays Katherine Johnson, the woman responsible for the calculations that led to Glenn’s orbit. The other mathematicians are played by Monae and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.
