The hidden figures of the space race have been recognized with Congress’ highest honor at a medal ceremony.

Nobody ever asked who was that girl suiting up Dr. Mae,” McDougle recalled with a laugh. In 1992, when Dr. Mae Jemison prepared to make history as the first Black woman to travel into space, McDougle was right by her side. As a Black woman, McDougle said she shared familiarity with Jemison, even though they hadn’t known each other long. “A little Black girl from Mississippi didn’t even know what she was going to do. She’s writing a children’s book, “Suit Up For Launch with Shay” and frequently gives school talks, hoping her aerospace career will inspire others.

WASHINGTON NASA is naming its Washington headquarters after Mary Jackson, the space agencys first African American female engineer whose story was portrayed in the popular film Hidden Figures.Jackson started her NASA career in 1951 as part of a segregated unit of female mathematicians at what is now Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson was later promoted to engineer and retired from NASA in 1985. Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement Wednesday. Part of the street in front of NASA headquarters is called Hidden Figures Way" and a computer research facility at Langley is named for Katherine Johnson, another of the Hidden Figures mathematicians, who died in February. A NASA facility is also named for her in West Virginia, her home state.