I went to see this movie yesterday primarily because I am 68 and grew up following the achievements of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.

It is a passable account of three black women who were integral parts of the NASA team that helped get those astronauts into space. The movie spends quite a bit of time on the daily indignities and the larger injustices that prevailed in the Jim Crow South. (The movie is set in Virginia.) It is good to remind ourselves from time to time what black people were forced to endure and how far the country has traveled since 1961. There is sexism as well as racism at work here, too.

The movie treats this subject in a pretty standard, bland way, making it more like a made-for-TV special than a feature film. Kevin Costner is excellent in his role; the three female leads do well, and some attempt is made to differentiate among them and to show their private lives.

I certainly learned something from the film: I had no idea that women, and black women in particular, had such major roles in NASA. I had no idea that John Glenn came to put so much trust in the calculating ability of one of these women. Glenn comes off very well in the movie, an added bonus given his recent passing.

A pleasant two hours, but not a movie that needs to be seen on the big screen.

I agree it doesn't need to be seen on the big screen. I thought it was very well acted, and the career trajectories the three women each took was really interesting to see. But I had two main problems with the movie:

1. The number of plot lines led to some being really underdeveloped. The romance/marriage storyline was such an awkward side plot that moved really fast. Plus at the end the text said they celebrated their 57th anniversary in 2016, so they were actually married in 1959 before the movie takes place. I would have liked them to cut that storyline and spend more time on the three women in the different NASA rolls.

2. I know this movie wasn't a big budget production, but wow some of the stuff relating to the actual space missions (and the TV coverage thereof) sure seemed campy like something out of a B-movie.

I agree it's a cool story that I didn't know anything about. I'm a female with multiple degrees in mathematics and related fields. I've watched a lot of movies and documentaries about 1960s NASA, plus have relatives who worked there at the time, and when I saw the trailer before Moana I was wondering how I'd never heard about this story before.