Explores the true story of four African American female mathematicians recruited by the U.S. government during World War II to work at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Their job involved being "human computers," using pencils, slide rulers, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would allow rockets and astronauts to be launched out of the atmosphere.

Setting the scene -- A door opens -- Mobilization -- A new beginning -- The double V -- The "colored" computers -- War birds -- The duration -- Breaking barriers -- No limits -- The area rule -- An exceptional mind -- Turbulence -- Progress -- Young, gifted, and black -- What a difference a day makes -- Writing the textbook on space -- With all deliberate speed -- Model behavior -- Degrees of freedom -- Out of the past, the future -- America is for everybody -- One small step.