1960 is an eventful year for the Civil Rights Movement. A lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina inspires similar actions elsewhere, including at Hampton. Christine Mann, by now an Institute junior with a heavy courseload, makes time to join the protests and also to participate in voter registration drives. In Virginia, the protestors are opposed by state and county governments who are strongly committed to segregation. The county where Dorothy taught high school even defunds all public schools, rather than integrate them. Langley is moving in the opposite direction. Dorothy joins the newly formed Analysis and Computation Division, where she writes programs to be run on IBM computers. She works alongside white women and, increasingly, alongside men.

When Alan Shepard, in a short suborbital flight in 1961, becomes the first American in space, President Kennedy announces a goal of reaching the Moon by the end of the decade. Langley will be involved, but NASA plans to make Houston the center for this ambitious endeavor. Some of the Langley women are prepared to relocate, but many, including Katherine, are not.