NASA is highlighting the legacy of African American women who played a major role in the space race but are only recently getting widespread recognition.
This week, the space agency renamed the street in front of its headquarters Hidden Figures Way.
Hidden Figures is the name of a book and movie that celebrate the contributions of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. Its author, Margot Lee Shetterly, was at the unveiling ceremony, along with members of the women's families.
"Naming this street Hidden Figures Way serves to remind us, and everyone who comes here, of the standard that was set by these women, with their commitment to science and their embodiment of the values of equality, justice and humanity," Shetterly said. "But, let it also remind us of the Hidden Figures way, which is to open our eyes to [contributions] of the people around us so that their names, too, are the ones that we remember at the end of the story."
Last year, Sens. Ted Cruz, Ed Markey, John Thune and Bill Nelson introduced a bill to rename the street to honor the "human computers" at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which eventually became NASA.