The hidden figures of the space race have been recognized with Congress’ highest honor at a medal ceremony.

The women who contributed to getting Americans on the moon will be honored with Congressional Gold Medals.

WASHINGTON NASA is naming its Washington headquarters after Mary Jackson, the space agencys first African American female engineer whose story was portrayed in the popular film Hidden Figures.Jackson started her NASA career in 1951 as part of a segregated unit of female mathematicians at what is now Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson was later promoted to engineer and retired from NASA in 1985. Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement Wednesday. Part of the street in front of NASA headquarters is called Hidden Figures Way" and a computer research facility at Langley is named for Katherine Johnson, another of the Hidden Figures mathematicians, who died in February. A NASA facility is also named for her in West Virginia, her home state.

NASA announced it will name its Washington, D.C. headquarters building after the space agencys first Black female engineer, Mary Jackson. Jackson, who was played by actor Janelle Monae in the movie Hidden Figures, started her NASA career at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Prior to the headquarters new name, nine out of 10 of NASA centers were named after white men: Ames Research Center, Armstrong Flight Research Center, Glenn Research Center, Goddard Spaceflight Center, Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, Langley Research Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and Stennis Space Center. NASA previously named a facility after Katherine Johnson, who was among the agencys first Black women computer scientists. Recently, there have been calls to renamed NASAs Stennis Space Center, which is named after the late Mississippi Sen. John C. Stennis.