The answer to this meta, as found by 56 (!!) solvers, was
HIDDEN FIGURES; a terrific movie based on the essential work done for America’s fledgling space program by three incredible African American women -- Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. These brilliant and brave women, literally hidden in the bowels of the NASA complex simply because of the color of their skin (and, truth be told, their gender), persevered and ultimately made their mark in history as the giants they were; three women who – but for this movie and the book on which it was based -- might still be “lost in space.”
Josh (madhatter5) wrote me a few weeks ago to see if I was interested in joining forces to write a puzzle to highlight February being Black History Month. After a few ideas (that may someday see the light of day – you never throw out possible mechanisms), we came up with this one. We lobbied BrianMac for the first day of February, as we assumed other constructors around the country would be doing similar things; also we deliberately didn’t mention Black History Month in our post, because that would have made the meta much easier to solve. But bottom line, we wanted it to be solved by everyone, as we wanted everyone to become familiar with this great story.
The trick was based on a hint at 63D that suggested that many great space quests began at NASA. Armed with that hint, solvers noticed that there were seven symmetrically-placed Across entries that had one additional letter inserted – hidden, as it were – within the letters NASA. Those letters, taken in grid order, spelled out FIGURES (kudos to Josh for the masterful way he found and used the necessary entries).
17A: INASFARAS NAS + F + A
25A: GYMNASIA NAS + I + A
28A: NAGSAT NA + G + SA
36A: SNAUSAGES NA + U + SA
48A: ANARSA NA + R + SA
51A: INASEAOF NAS + E + A
61A: UNASSAYED NAS + S + A
The random winner this week was
DowJones, who will receive a DVD/BluRay copy of the movie “Hidden Figures.” (PM me for your choice, and how I can get it to you). Thanks for solving!
Al and Josh (still looking for a “Bennifer” or “HEX”-like portmanteau).