'Hidden Figures' Movie True Story: Fact vs. Fiction About NASA's African-American Women Pioneers

"Hidden Figures," a movie about three African-American women pioneers at NASA, was slated for worldwide release Friday. The story of the women who calculated flight trajectories that helped John Glenn become the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth previously opened in a limited release on Christmas. The film, which has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 91 percent and will expand to 2,300 theaters Friday, is a historical comedy-drama based on a nonfiction book published by Margot Lee Shetterly in 2016. The characters' work with NASA aided in the launch of Project Mercury in the late 50s and early 60s, and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight. Some who have watched the film said it accurately portrayed what happened in history, like Johnson, who said it "sounded very, very accurate" after watching the film's advance screening in November.