Oscar winner Octavia Spencer's next role won't take her into outer space, but she'll play someone in sending the first man into orbit. According to Variety, Spencer will join Taraji P. Henson in the NASA drama, Hidden Figures, directed by St. Vincent's Ted Melfi.
The film is based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book, "Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race", which centers on African-American mathematicians Katherine Johnson (Henson), Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. The women overcame racial prejudice and gender bias to aid in NASA's 1962 Friendship 7 mission that made astronaut John Glenn the first American to ever orbit the Earth.
No word on when filming begins but Shetterly's book hits store shelves in September. Spencer will be seen next in The Divergent Series: Allegiant.
