HOUSTON – “At first when I came here, I thought I was like being bad,” said Jocelyn Johnson.
Ninth-grader Jocelyn Johnson didn't know why she was being taken to Space Center Houston on a day she didn't have school.
But after seeing "Hidden Figures," the day had a whole new meaning.
“It was really good,” Johnson said.
“As a former NASA employee, I can say that it really spoke to me very strongly, and I said, 'We got to tell this story,' and I'm glad they're doing a movie and a book about it,” Tracy Lamm said.
As the chief operating officer for Space Center Houston, Lamm helped organize Tuesday's special screening. His goals were simple: Fill the theater with as many kids as possible and try to light that fire of passion for science.
“We really wanted to reach some students who could get inspired by this movie,” Lamm said.
“I was definitely inspired,” Overstreet said.
Overstreet is only in fifth grade, but the women she saw on the big screen left quite the impression. You guessed it: She wants to work for NASA, but not as an astronaut.
“Um, I probably might want to work on mission control,” Journee Overstreet said.
Lamm said he appreciates the successful missions that are completed behind the scenes and the backbone of NASA.
“We hear a lot about the astronauts, we hear a lot about the people that are program managers and some of the scientists, but the people who really get to do the work behind the scenes -- those people are very important to successful missions every day for NASA and many other agencies,” Lamm said.