Ideas from Mark Stout

I lived and breathed the space race when I was a kid. I was four when the first Mercury went up, and twelve when they landed on the moon. One memory I have of First Grade is all of us trooping all the way across the street to the teacher's house and crowding into her living room to watch a Mercury launch (either Cooper or Schirra). I can't imagine a boyhood without a space race. For all my adoration and study (I gave away a huge box of books, magazines, newspapers, mission patches etc. in late high school), I never came across the story of the black women who served as "computers" for NASA right here in Virginia. Today, a bit late, we saw "Hidden Figures" . It is an awesome movie. It is appropriate for all ages. Take your kids to see it. They can learn so much about the battle for racial and sexual equality, STEM, and yes, the space race.