NEW YORK (AP) — The hidden figures of the space race were honored with Congress’ highest award at a medal ceremony on Wednesday.

The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the families of Catherine JohnsonDorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Christine Darden at the U.S. Capitol. Darden watched the ceremony from her home in Connecticut.

A medal was also awarded to all women who worked as mathematicians, engineers and “human computers” in the US space program from the 1930s to the 1970s.

“By honoring her, we honor the best spirit of our country,” said author Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book “Hidden Figures” was made into a film in 2016.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics—a precursor to NASA—hired hundreds of women to crunch numbers for space missions. The black women hired worked in a separate unit for women mathematicians at what is now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.

Johnson’s handwritten calculations helped John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the country’s highest civilian honor.

Vaughan became NASA’s first black supervisor and Jackson became NASA’s first black female engineer. Darden is best known for her research on sonic booms.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Science and Educational Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. All content is the responsibility of the AP.