Johnson was a real, brilliant mathematician crucial to NASA. However, some specific incidents like the bathroom runs were fabricated or belonged to others' experiences for dramatic effect.

Vaughan was a real supervisor and FORTRAN expert. The film accurately shows her foresight regarding computers but condenses the timeline; she became a supervisor in 1949, much earlier than depicted.

Jackson was NASA's first black female engineer. She did have to petition to attend segregated classes, though the film dramatizes the process slightly.

Harrison is a fictional composite character, based on three different NASA directors at Langley. The famous bathroom sign scene involving him never happened.

Mitchell is a fictional character representing the attitudes and obstacles faced by women like Vaughan from some white colleagues and supervisors.

Stafford is a fictional composite character meant to embody the racial and gender biases Katherine Johnson encountered from some male colleagues.

Virginia had segregation laws, and early NACA/NASA facilities were segregated. However, NASA facilities were integrated in 1958, before the main events depicted (1961-62).

This specific experience (running half a mile) happened to Mary Jackson, not Katherine. Katherine ignored segregated signs and used the unmarked white bathrooms.

This scene is fictional; the character is fictional, and segregation officially ended earlier. Real acts of defiance included women removing signs themselves.

Glenn did famously ask for Johnson ("the girl") to manually check the IBM computer's trajectory calculations before his orbital flight.

The film correctly references the types of advanced mathematics, including numerical methods like Euler's, that Johnson and others used for trajectory analysis.

Vaughan did foresee the importance of machine computers, learned FORTRAN, and trained her group. However, the film dramatizes how she accessed the IBM machine.

Jackson did have to petition the City of Hampton for special permission to attend segregated graduate-level courses at Hampton High School.

While they worked at Langley during the same era, the film portrays them as closer friends working together simultaneously than they likely were.

Key events (Vaughan's promotion, Jackson becoming engineer) happened years before the film's timeline. The film condenses decades of achievements for narrative.

While Paul Stafford is fictional, the resistance Katherine faced regarding authorship on reports reflects real challenges women encountered in getting credit.

The segregated West Area Computing unit, where African American female mathematicians initially worked, was real.

Johnson faced barriers due to her race and gender and had to push assertively to be included in important briefings and meetings traditionally closed to women.

The film accurately conveys the high-stakes, competitive atmosphere between the US and Soviet Union during the early Space Race.

The film successfully recreates the look and feel of the Langley Research Center during the pivotal Mercury program era.

Reflects the reality of Jim Crow laws in Virginia during the period, although integration at NASA occurred before the film's main timeframe.

The production design accurately reflects the styles and aesthetics of the early 1960s United States.

Before widespread electronic computers, complex calculations were done by hand and with mechanical aids like the Monroe calculators shown.

The film accurately portrays the vital role these mathematicians (often women) played in performing calculations before electronic computers.

Shows the significant transition phase from human computation to electronic computing with large machines like the IBM 7090.

Captures the national urgency, technological ambition, and underlying tensions of the era effectively.