Street outside NASA's D.C. office renamed for 'Hidden Figures'

This image released by Twentieth Century Fox shows Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, center, in a scene from "Hidden Figures." (Hopper Stone/Twentieth Century Fox via AP)

WASHINGTON -- The street outside of NASA's headquarters has been renamed "Hidden Figures Way" to honour the African American women who served as "human computers" in the effort to send humans to the moon.

News outlets report dignitaries gathered Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to unveil the new street sign, including district officials, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and others.

"Hidden Figures" author Margot Lee Shetterly and the families of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson also attended the event. Shetterly's 2016 book details the struggles of the women as they crunched numbers at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in the pre-computer age.

Cruz in August proposed renaming E Street SW through the Hidden Figures Way Designation Act.