As Vivian escorts Katherine to the Space Task Group's Flight Research Division to be their new computer, Katherine follows with her necessary computing equipment and desk items in a cardboard box.Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Happens twice:.Mary: I have the right to see 'fine' in every color. Mary Jackson is clearly enjoying the view when the astronauts (all white men) come to visit their facility, which makes Katherine chastise her for 'ogling white men.' Mary brushes it off. Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Downplayed example.Black and Nerdy: While Mary and Dorothy (and really all the NASA computers) are smart, Katherine is a true nerd.Truth in Television, as he was her longtime mentor and supporter in real life. Benevolent Boss: Mary's boss urges her to go for a promotion to engineer, noting that if a Polish Jewish refugee like himself can make it in America, so can she.

Badass Boast: Katherine listing off her skills and qualifications to a dismissive Jim Johnson, before excusing herself and walking off.These are day-one rocket science concepts being introduced for the viewer - it's not the type of talk that would happen at NASA in reality, even that early in the space race. Paul Stafford explaining to his team how Glenn would go into an elliptical orbit around the Earth and a parabolic orbit for landing.Justified, as this is an actual rocket science problem being discussed, and it clues the audience in on the level of work needed and the stakes involved. The vectors with unknown values (speed, distance, deceleration, etc.) that are required to get John Glenn's capsule landed back on Earth safety are asked by Katherine and confirmed by Paul during Paul's briefing on the subject to all of the mathematicians.Artistic Licence Military: Jim Johnson is shown wearing a dress uniform that has practically no markings when it should have had unit patches on the shoulders, a name plate on the right breast, and a ribbon rack on the left breast along with an assortment of badges and qualifications.While John Glenn did specifically ask for Katherine to check the figures, she had a few days to look over them, as opposed to a few hours.She also gained access to editorial meetings through persistence. The film depicts Katherine being assigned to Flight Research much later than in real life she was assigned in 1953 and had co-authored her first report by 1960.She just asked the city of Hampton for an exception, and it was granted. Mary didn't need to get a court order to attend her classes.

Hidden figures movie